


Unprepared

by haelpack



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Background Pinkberry, Kid Fic, M/M, Parent!Michael, Pining, Teacher AU, Teacher!Jeremy, Teacher-Parent Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-03-20 04:27:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 56,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13709808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haelpack/pseuds/haelpack
Summary: It's Jeremy's first year teaching the second grade and he's nervous enough as it is. What if the students hate him? What if he turns out to be a bad teacher? What if he's made a huge mistake with his career?He thought he'd prepared for everything, for any problem that might be thrown his way. But, as it turns out, the only thing he never worried about was falling for one of his students' dad. Nope, for that scenario, he was completely unprepared.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is!! My third Be More Chill fic, and by far the longest one yet. Yikes, this is gonna be a big one! I hope you all enjoy it :)

Jeremy was an absolute nervous wreck, but what else was new? He stood in the middle of his new classroom, absolutely frightened to his core. He had the desks set up in groups of four with little laminated Pac Man ghosts hanging over each group to number them. He had painstakingly handmade posters for the walls and written every students’ names on their name tags as clearly and neatly as he possibly could. He’d rearranged the contents of his desk at least a dozen times in the past three days.

Jeremy Heere was a nervous wreck, and in exactly one day he was going to be teaching 25 seven-year-olds all on his own. Oh boy.

Jeremy wasn’t what you would call a confident person, though he was extremely patient and good with kids. He’d always been pegged as the kind of person who would grow up and become a teacher and now that was finally becoming a reality. Sure, he’d had to move from Michigan to New Jersey for the job, but that was fine. Being completely alone in a brand new place was… fine.

He wasn’t fine.

Jeremy plopped down in his new (used) desk chair and buried his face in his hands. He reminded himself that he had done well when he was student-teaching, and really this wasn’t all that different. The only real change was that there wasn’t going to be another teacher present to make sure he didn’t royally screw up. And knowing Jeremy, it was quite likely that he would.

He took some deep breaths and pulled out his lesson plans. Over the summer, he’d started outlining lesson plans for the school year before he’d even known where he was going to teach. If there was anything Jeremy was good at, it was channeling his anxiety into productive things like deep-cleaning the bathroom or planning out the entire second grade. It made him feel better, though, to know that it was already all set out and ready to go. He just had to keep up with making the worksheets and making notes on what worked and what didn’t for future years.

Jeremy was a planner and he had done everything he could to plan this school year out to a T. With any luck, there would be no surprises whatsoever. He’d manage to keep 25 little gremlins in line for ten months and possibly even manage to teach them a thing or two, and somehow even keep his cool.

Chill. He just needed to be more chill (never mind that he was the least chill person in the history of the universe).

“Whoa.” Jeremy jumped so hard that he hit his knee on his desk. Cursing under his breath, he turned and saw a blonde woman standing in the doorway of his classroom. “You really went all out! I’m impressed.”

She was pretty, and maybe only a few years older than Jeremy himself. She wore a blue knitted shirt under a yellow cardigan and a long skirt. Jeremy stood, stammering, “Oh, uh, thanks! I mean I tried to make it a fun place for the kids, you know?”

“They’re gonna love it,” she said emphatically. She stuck her hand out, smiling. “I’m Brooke, by the way. Brooke Lohst, first grade.”

“Oh! Uh, I’m Jeremy. Heere. Jeremy Heere, that is. Second grade.” Jeremy shook her hand. He hoped she didn’t noticed how clammy his palms were.

“Oh, cool, you might have some of my kids from last year! Can I see your list?”

“Sure, it’s in here,” Jeremy said, leading Brooke over to his desk. He rummaged in the top drawer of his desk before pulling out a very thick binder, decorated with a collage of all of his favorite things (vintage video games, comic book characters, dolphins… it was a very _eclectic_ collage). Brooke’s eyes widened.

“Wow, you’re definitely… prepared for the school year, aren’t you?” She asked with a light laugh. Jeremy flushed a little, but nodded. He opened the binder. The top page was his list of students, accompanied by their school pictures from the year previous. Brooke stood close, looking over the pages. She pointed out the students she recognized, telling Jeremy little tidbits about the children he’d be meeting tomorrow.

“Oh, that’s Ellie! She’s a sweetie, but really quiet. And Ryan, he’s a bit of a handful, but only if you seat him near Logan. I had to separate them last year. And Emily’s mom is a pain in the ass, so prepare yourself…” She babbled on and Jeremy had to actively resist the urge to take notes on what she was saying. All in all, about half of Jeremy’s class had been in Brooke’s. “If you ever have any trouble or need any help, just ask. I’ll keep ‘em in line for you,” she added with a wink.

“Thanks,” Jeremy said, though that didn’t make him feel much better. “I’ll, uh, keep that in mind.”

“Nervous?” She asked knowingly. Sheepishly, Jeremy nodded. “Yeah, it’ll be that way for a while, but once you get into the groove of things, you’ll be fine. Just try to remember that you wouldn’t have passed your student-teaching if you didn’t know what you were doing.”

“Yeah, but at least then I had a real teacher to make sure I didn’t fuck up,” Jeremy pointed out. Brooke laughed.

“Now, _you’re_ the real teacher.”

“Yeah, that’s the scary part.”

“I know, right?” Brooke shook her head. “But if you’re as anal about teaching as you are about decorating, you’ll be fine. I promise.”

“Well, then I guess I have nothing to worry about,” Jeremy said lightly, bouncing on his heels a little.

Brooke looked at her watch. “Damn, I need to hit up Target before meeting Rich.” She looked up at Jeremy brightly, like she’d just had the best idea. “Do you want to go out for drinks with me and Rich? He’s one of the fifth grade teachers, but he’s the fun one.”

“Oh, I-I don’t know,” Jeremy stuttered. He fingered the edge of his binder nervously. “I wouldn’t want to intrude.” 

“Oh, you wouldn’t be, I promise! Come on, we’ll get you loosened up and ready for tomorrow. Please?” Brooke pouted, holding onto Jeremy’s arm lightly. Jeremy felt his resolve crumble.

“Okay, fine. But I won’t stay long. I really don’t want to spend my first day teaching with a hangover.”

—

First aid kit? Check. Extra pencils and paper? Check. Bathroom pass? Check.

Jeremy did a final run-through of his classroom, double-checking that he had everything he might possibly need for tomorrow. He looked at his watch. He needed to leave now if he was going to get to the bar on time. He sighed, his stomach a bundle of nerves. He grabbed his phone and keys, then flicked the lights off in the room. 

Even to a new teacher, schools were creepy when empty. Jeremy’s footsteps echoed off the walls as he walked to the nearest exit. He imagined what it would look like tomorrow with the halls full of students and parents and noise and chaos. His corridor was all of the first and second grade classes, so it was sure to be a riot in the making.

He couldn’t wait.

The bar was about a fifteen minute drive from the school. Jeremy noted that it wasn’t too far from his new apartment. He’d only moved in about two weeks ago and had spent the whole time preparing for the school year, so he hadn’t taken much time to look around and get to know his new home. 

The bar was packed and lively, which immediately set Jeremy even more on edge. He wasn’t so great with crowds, but he hoped he would be okay. This was sort of the first impression that his new coworkers would be getting of him, and he wanted it to be a good one. Jeremy scanned the room, looking for Brooke.

“Jeremy, over here!” Jeremy barely heard her soft voice over the din of the bar, but he whirled around and saw Brooke sitting in a booth along the wall. She was wearing a different outfit, though Jeremy could hardly see it under the sheen of her blonde hair, fanned out across her shoulders. Across the table from her was a man with spiked hair wearing a muscle T-shirt. As Jeremy waded through the crowd of people, he thought that the guy looked like someone who would be a bully in high school. Then he chided himself for making such a rash judgement about someone he’d never even met.

“Uh, hey,” Jeremy said once he had approached the table. Brooke scooted over so he could slide in next to her.

“I’m so glad you came,” Brooke said. “Rich, this is Jeremy, the new second grade teacher.”

“Oh,” Rich said, taking a deep sip of his beer, “second grade is the worst! That’s the year the kids all turn into little demons.”

Jeremy must had showed his panic on his face because Brooke immediately kicked Rich under the table, admonishing him.

“Rich!” Brooke rolled her eyes, shaking her head. “Don’t listen to him, Jeremy. He hates any kid under the age of ten.”

“That is not true,” Rich argued. “Babies are cute. But once they learn to talk, then they turn into little monsters until around age nine or ten. It’s just a fact of life. But seven-year-olds are the worst,” he added, sending Jeremy a playful wink. Jeremy didn’t know how to respond to that, so he just sort of smiled awkwardly.

“You’re freaking him out,” Brooke said forcefully. She patted Jeremy’s arm. “Don’t listen to him; he’s full of shit. Let’s get you a drink, okay?” She looked around and waved down a waitress. Jeremy hadn’t even thought about what he would order and panicked, stumbling to grab a menu.

“Just bring him a Blue Moon to start,” Rich said easily, indicating his own glass. “And another for me.” The waitress nodded and hurried off.

“Sorry,” Jeremy said, embarrassed. Rich waved it off easily, which lifted the weight off Jeremy’s chest. 

Brooke sipped on a margarita happily and began chatting away about the vacation she and her wife had just returned from.

“We always do a trip right before the school year begins,” she explained, showing Jeremy and Rich pictures of herself and her wife in Hawaii, “but I’ve wanted to go to Hawaii forever and Chloe surprised me this year! Ugh, I miss it already.”

Jeremy loosened up as he drank his beer (he wouldn’t mention that he wasn’t a fan of Blue Moon) and found that both Rich and Brooke were actually pretty fun to be around. Brooke was the epitome of a sweet school-teacher, the kind of person you imagine would be a teacher. Rich, though, Jeremy couldn’t picture him being good with kids. Not in a bad way, or anything, it was just that he definitely seemed like the person to prefer adult company. Maybe a high school teacher. But maybe Jeremy just wasn’t the best judge of character, then.

Rich, though, was a really funny guy. He had Jeremy and Brooke in stitches recounting some of his more… risqué adventures over the summer.

“God, summer is the best time of year,” he said dreamily. “Having the entire summer off is the best thing about being a teacher, for real.” Brooke rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, we all do it for the breaks,” she said sarcastically. “The whole nurturing-and-imparting-knowledge-on-the-young isn’t nearly as important as summer break.”

Rich scoffed. “That’s, like, number five on the list, at the very most.”

“So what is numbers two through four, then?” Jeremy asked, mildly amused.He sat back in his seat, raising his eyebrows. Rich rubbed his jaw, pretending to put a whole lot of thought into his list.

“Okay, so like I said, number one is summer break, and obviously number two is all of the other breaks during the school year. Number three would be the hot single parents, of course.” Brooke made a small noise of discontentment, but didn’t interrupt. “And four is… um… four is yet to be determined.”

“So wouldn’t number four be Brooke’s thing, then?”

Rich shook his head. “No way. There’s _at least_ one more thing above her thing, I just can’t think of it while drinking.” To emphasize this point, Rich took a large gulp of his beer. He went too big, though, and some of it came pouring out the corners of his mouth. Rich practically dropped the cup back on the table, cursing as he grabbed a napkin. Jeremy snorted behind his hand, looking away to pretend he wasn’t laughing at Rich.

“So, are you still nervous for tomorrow?” Brooke asked when Jeremy was on his third round of drinks (rum and Coke this time). Jeremy nodded.

“It’ll really be no big deal,” Rich said. “You don’t have anything to worry about.”

“Mm, I kind of do,” Jeremy said lightly. He finished off his drink and picked at the order of fries the three of them had bought for the table.

“You’ll be great, Jeremy,” Brooke insisted. “I know it.”

Jeremy sighed, shrugging. “I mean, I guess I know intellectually that I’m ready for it, but… There have been letters.” 

“Oh no,” Rich said, knowing where this is going. Brooke, however, did not. Her eyebrows knit together.

“Letters?” She repeated, confused.

“From parents,” Jeremy explained. He wished he had another drink so he had more to do with his hands than tearing apart a french fry His fingers were already covered in mushed potato. “At least five different parents have been very vocal about being unhappy that their kid is going to be in my class.”

“What?” Brooke looked furious. “Why?”

“Because I’m new. Inexperienced and unqualified, I believe are the terms they used,” Jeremy said mildly, pretending it didn’t bother him nearly as much as it actually did. “Never mind that I _am_ perfectly qualified.”

“Don’t listen to them,” Rich said firmly. “Everyone’s gotta start somewhere and anyway, parents are idiots. All of them. Like, sure, they want what’s best for their kids and yada yada, but they don’t seem to get that the teachers do, too. They don’t get that the school literally wouldn’t have hired you unless they knew you could do this. So fuck all of them and what they think of you until Christmas break, at least. Just fuck ‘em all.”

“Wow, Rich,” Brooke said after a moment of stunned silence. “I didn’t know you cared so much.” Rich huffed, but didn’t meet her eyes. As if he was embarrassed to care.

“Well, obviously. Why would I have wasted so many years getting my degree and teaching if I didn’t care about the kids?” 

“I guess that’s number four, then?” Jeremy asked lightly. “The kids?”

They all nodded in agreement.


	2. Chapter 2

Jeremy smoothed out his shirt for the fifth time, looking out the window at the kids. School officially started in half an hour and many parents had brought their kids in early to play on the playground before. Jeremy could hear the screaming and laughter from his room, though to be fair some of that noise was coming from the halls. People were already waiting to come into the room.

Jeremy knew it was time to open his door and let the students start coming in, but his stomach twisted with nerves. This was it. This was finally happening.

He opened the door to see a small line of kids and their parents along the wall. “Hey, everyone! Come on in.” Brooke waved to him from down the hall, looking chipper and ready for the new year. Just seeing her made Jeremy feel a little more comfortable. It was nice to have a friend nearby. He waved back as the students and parents started walking into the room.

It was overwhelming, to say the least. Jeremy took a deep breath and put on a brave face and took his time introducing himself to all the students.

“Hi, I’m Mr. Heere,” he said to each of them, kneeling down so he was eye-level with the kid. One little girl ducked behind her father’s legs, peeking between them to look at Jeremy. “What’s your name?”

“Sweetie,” the girl’s dad said, gently taking her hand to guide her out from behind him, “why don’t you say hi?”

She waved a little, clinging to her father. Jeremy gave his kindest, most understanding smile and waved back. After a moment, she said, “Ellie.” Jeremy felt like that was an accomplishment in and of itself.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Ellie. Now, if I remember correctly, I believe you’re in group number… three! That’s it. Your desk is right over here.” Jeremy showed Ellie and her father to the desk that had ELLIE KAVINSKY written across the top. Ellie seemed content, pulling out the contents of her backpack and sliding them inside her new desk.

Ellie’s dad gave Jeremy an approving nod, which Jeremy reciprocated gratefully. He patted Ellie on the back gently and moved on, introducing himself to Kyle Riera and his grandmother.

Mrs. Greene, Lucy’s mother, seemed most suspicious of Jeremy. He recalled that she was one of the parents who had sent letters complaining about her daughter being in his class. She was a well-put-together woman, the kind who clearly had some big shot corporate job in the city. Definitely the kind of parent who would complain about a teacher she knew nothing about.

“What’s your preferred teaching style?” She grilled, supervising as Lucy organized the inside of her desk. “Do you have any experience helping kids catch up on their reading level? Lucy’s half a grade behind. What about the new math program? Are you trained in Common Core?” The questions went on and on. Jeremy did his best to interact with the other parents and students while still taking the time to answer her questions. He preferred hands-on and visual styles when possible, but was able to adapt to students’ needs. He spent his student teaching working with the kids with lower reading levels. He’s been trained in all the current math programs, including Common Core.

Honestly, Jeremy was proud of himself for keeping it together so well.

A couple of the boys were running around the room, shouting at each other joyfully. One of them ran right into the back of Jeremy’s knees. The boy stumbled back, but Jeremy caught him.

“Hey, hey, are you alright?” Jeremy asked, kneeling. The boy had dark hair and bright brown eyes behind a thick pair of glasses. He had a _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_ bandaid on his chin. He nodded enthusiastically. “You know, that’s why we’re not supposed to run inside.” Jeremy gave him and the other boys, who had crowded around him, a reproachful look. They all looked sheepish enough.

“Sorry,” they mumbled in unison. Jeremy had a feeling this wasn’t a new occurrence for any of them. Jeremy accepted their apology and stood.

“Well, then, how about you all get to your seats? We’ll be getting started in a few minutes.” He went to see if there were any more parents that wanted to speak with him, but for the most part they had all filtered out. Only three remained, all talking or hugging their children. Jeremy felt a small tug on the hem of his shirt.

The boy with glasses was looking up at him with wide eyes. “I dunno where my seat is,” he explained, pushing his glasses up his nose.

“I can help you, then,” Jeremy said kindly. “What’s your name?”

“Logan Mell.”

“Oh, hey, like Wolverine, right?” Logan beamed and nodded emphatically.

“He’s my favorite superhero!” Jeremy led Logan over to his desk in group number four, chatting about Wolverine and the X-men. Logan was very passionate about superheroes, it turned out. Jeremy actually felt bad when he had to cut him off so he could get started officially on the first day of school.

This, truly, was the moment Jeremy had been dreading. Twenty-five seven-year-olds all sitting down, staring at him. Jeremy swallowed, took a deep breath, and began.

“So, good morning, everyone! As I hope you know by now, I’m Mr. Heere. I’m gonna be your teacher for this school year. I have a really good feeling we’re gonna have a great year, don’t you?”

—

The morning flew past. It was almost like a blink of an eye and it was lunchtime. Jeremy had everyone line up by the door so they could walk to the cafeteria together. There was a small kerfuffle over who got to be first and last in the line, but Jeremy thought on his feet and appointed a designated line leader and caboose. He promised that by tomorrow, he’d have a good system so everyone had a chance. (So yeah, that meant he officially had homework on the first day of school. Great.)

Once he deposited them safely to their designated lunch table, Jeremy had an hour lunch break of his own. The kids would have lunch and then recess, where Jeremy would pick them up at one o’clock. And though the morning had gone by so quickly, Jeremy definitely was ready for a break.

It was bizarre, almost, walking into the teacher’s lounge to eat lunch. Jeremy held his lunch box in his hands, feeling very much like an awkward high school freshman walking into the cafeteria for the first time. 

“Hey, J-man! How’s it hanging?” Rich appeared behind him, clapping him hard on the shoulder. It startled Jeremy enough to walk into the lounge without any further qualms.

“Pretty good, actually,” Jeremy replied, turning to look at Rich. He looked almost like a different person. He was dressed smartly in a short-sleeved button up shirt and slacks. His hair was still spiked with gel, but it seemed neater than yesterday. He actually _looked_ like a teacher, which was almost weird. “You?”

“Ugh,” Rich groaned, throwing himself down on one of the couches in the lounge. There were a few other teachers already eating, but they paid Rich no mind. “This year is gonna suck. I’m calling it right now.”

Jeremy sat on the edge of the couch next to Rich and raised his eyebrows. “That’s a little dramatic, don’t you think?” 

Rich rubbed his face. “I already had to separate a group of boys for fighting and two different kids tried to cheat on their “Introducing Myself” assignment.”

Jeremy opened his Tupperware container, where he had a homemade chef salad ready to go. “How do you cheat on an assignment about yourself?”

“Hell if I know.” Rich groaned again. “The one girl literally wrote her desk partner’s answers word-for-word. She even wrote the wrong name on top of her paper.”

“Yikes.”

“But your morning’s gone well?” Rich got up and retrieved his own lunch from the fridge, looking back at Jeremy over his shoulder.

“For the most part, yeah. Some of the parents were a little annoying at first, but once it was just me and the kids it seemed to go well.”

The teacher’s lounge slowly filled up, though not every teacher chose to hang out in there. Quite a few did, though, and Jeremy found himself being introduced to just about everybody. Jeremy could barely eat his food, as different teachers kept pulling him into conversation.

Brooke joined the group a little while later. She was dressed in a pretty but comfortable pink dress with a white cardigan over her shoulders, and her hair was in a messy braid. Already, her forearms and hands were covered in marker. She carried a bag from Wendy’s and the smell alone made Jeremy regret his choice of salad topped with cold deli turkey. He eyed the microwave next to the fridge and decided he’d bring a better lunch tomorrow.

“You look very, uh, colorful,” Jeremy commented as Brooke dug her chicken nuggets out of the bag. She grinned.

“Ah, the joys of the first grade,” she sighed, showcasing her colorful hands like she was a glove model. “I look like this permanently, so get used to it. We do a lot of coloring in my class.”

“I can tell.”

“So, how was your morning? Any of the kids giving you trouble?” Jeremy ate a bit of his salad, thinking.

“Not yet, but I mean the first day is more fun and games than anything,” he replied. “It might change once we get into the actual lessons.”

“And the parents?”

“Not as bad as they could have been, but there’s plenty of time for that to change.” Brooke giggled at that, dipping her chicken nugget into her frosty.

“Oh, just you wait. The parents will be your biggest pain,” Rich said. He sat on the coffee table in front of the couch so he could face both Jeremy and Brooke. “Especially the PTA moms. They’re the worst.”

Brooke nodded. “You seriously need to make sure the PTA moms don’t walk all over you, okay? They’re very… strong willed. Don’t let them bully you.”

Jeremy grimaced. “I’ve never been very good with bullies.”

Rich placed a hand on Jeremy’s knee, looking him in the eye with a serious look. “I’ll beat up any damn PTA mom for you.”

“Uh, thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”

—

“Okay, everyone, it’s time to clean up and get ready to go home!” The second the words came out of Jeremy’s mouth, he regretted them. The kids burst into cheers and the room went into utter chaos. Frantically, he tried to regain control. “I know you’re all excited, but we can’t go home until the room is tidied up, okay? So how about we all pick up the paper from the ground and push in all of our chairs.”

They had been doing some arts and crafts for the past twenty minutes and by now, the carpeted floor looked like it was covered in snow. Paper scraps were _everywhere_.

Only about a half of the class listened and started picking up the paper around their desks. Jeremy sighed to himself and started picking up paper scraps by the handful.

“Ryan, Logan, how about you guys help clean up so we can get out of here, okay?” Jeremy asked as he walked past the two boys. Ryan looked a little put out, but Logan cheerfully agreed and started helping. Jeremy made a point of thanking all of the kids who were helping out. He’d have to set some rules to make sure the kids helped clean up after themselves in the future.

Finally, once most of the paper was picking up, the scissors and markers put away in their bins, and all of the chair were tucked in, Jeremy opened up the door so the parents could pick up their children. It was almost the same as the morning as the parents flooded the room. Jeremy greeted all of the parents and said goodbye to all of the kids. He gave a few high fives and one of the kids even hugged him.

“Mr. Heere! Mr. Heere!” Jeremy looked to see Logan calling his name. Logan ran up to him, panting a little, and grabbed Jeremy by the wrist. “You gotta meet my dad! He couldn’t come earlier ‘cause he has work but he’s here now. I already showed him my desk and cubby and where all the books are, so now he’s gotta meet you!” With surprising strength for a child, Logan dragged Jeremy over to the cubbies. 

“Okay, slow down,” Jeremy said, laughing a little. Logan led him to a tall man standing in front of Logan’s designated cubby. His head was ducked and he was looking at something on his phone, obviously waiting for Logan to be ready to go. He was dressed nicely, obviously having just come from work.

“Dad! This is my new teacher, Mr. Heere!” Logan tugged on his father’s hand and the man looked up to meet Jeremy, a smile already on his face. He must have been used to his son’s excitability by now.

Well, shit. As soon as Jeremy met eyes with him, he lost his breath. Logan’s father was probably (definitely) the hottest person Jeremy had ever seen in his life. He was just a little taller than Jeremy, with tanned skin and glasses that almost completely matched his son’s. Jeremy couldn’t help but think that he had a really nice smile.

“Hey, it’s so nice to meet you,” he said, holding out his hand. Jeremy faltered for a moment, stunned, but then shook his hand with gusto. “I’m Michael, Logan’s dad.”

“Jeremy,” Jeremy replied. Half a second later, he caught himself and added, “Mr. Heere, I mean.” Jeremy held onto Michael’s hand for half a second too long and then dropped it awkwardly. Oh, god.

“Sorry I couldn’t come in this morning,” Michael went on, as if he hadn’t even noticed, “my mom has to drop Logan off in the mornings because I have to get to work at seven.”

“Oh, it’s no problem,” Jeremy said. “But I’m glad I got meet you. I mean- meeting my kids’ parents is always a good thing. It’s helpful, you know?” Jeremy shut up before he could embarrass himself any more in front of the hot guy. Luckily, though, Michael didn’t seem to mind Jeremy’s general awkwardness.

“Also, I like the Pac Man theme,” he commented. He reached up and twirled on of the hanging ghosts. “Very creative.”

“Thanks! I worked really hard on them. I’m glad they turned out well,” Jeremy said, flushing a little at the compliment. “Kids still know what Pac Man is, right?” He looked down at Logan, but the kid just sort of shrugged. Great.

“Either way, it looks sick.”

Logan shifted anxiously next to the two of them. “You said we could get ice cream,” he reminded his father. Michael laughed.

“I did, didn’t I? Well, then, I guess we’d better get going.” Michael looked back at Jeremy, looking almost shy. “I guess we’ll see you tomorrow, Jeremy.” 

“That’s Mr. Heere,” Logan chided. “You gotta respect teachers.”

“Of course you do,” Michael said easily. He winked at Jeremy. “Sorry about that, _Mr. Heere_.”

“It’s really not a big deal,” Jeremy insisted, waving a hand. Michael could call him literally anything in the world and Jeremy would thank him. The guy was that hot.

“Yes, it is,” Logan exclaimed, one hand on his hip. “Mrs. Lohst always said that you have to call teachers by their last names or you’re rude.”

Jeremy let out a small laugh, ruffling Logan’s hair. “Well, I guess we need to listen to Mrs. Lohst, then.” 

Logan seemed pleased and nodded resolutely. “Mrs. Lohst is always right, duh.”

Michael shook his head at his son. “Alright, then, let’s go get that ice cream.” Logan cheered and slid his backpack out of his cubby and onto his back. They said their goodbyes and headed out.

Jeremy found that he was actually sad to see them go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh, I'm so glad you guys seem to like this idea! I've been really excited about it for a while, and I'm so happy to finally be writing it. Thank you for all of your comments, they really mean the world to me.


	3. Chapter 3

“He’s so hot I could die,” Jeremy said in complete seriousness. Rich laughed into his glass of beer, ducking when Jeremy threw a pretzel at his head. 

“I told you, man, hot single parents! They’re one of the best parts of the job.”

“I don’t even know if he’s single, though,” Jeremy pointed out. He spun his glass between his hands, looking into the ice like it could solve all his problems. “Just because he picked Logan up alone doesn’t mean he isn’t married.”

“Did he have a ring?”

“I don’t know! I didn’t look,” Jeremy said, half-exasperated. “But I mean, someone that good-looking has to be married, right?”

“Who’s married?” Brooke asked as she slid into the booth. They were at the same bar as the night previous. Rich had insisted that he needed a drink after dealing with the troublemakers in his class all day.

“I don’t know if he is or not,” Jeremy said. “That’s, like, half the problem.” Not to mention that Michael was way too hot for someone like Jeremy.

“Who?”

“Jeremy’s crushing on some hot single dad,” Rich told her, wagging his eyebrows suggestively.

“I spoke to him for, like, two minutes! That does not mean I’m crushing on him.” Rich rolled his eyes, not believing Jeremy for a second.

“Sure, Jer.” Jeremy felt himself grow warm in the cheeks and took a long sip of his rum and Coke, hoping that would hide his blush. By the sharklike grin on Rich’s face, it did not.

“Well, I mean, it doesn’t really matter, now does it?” Brooke asked as she shed her cardigan. She waved down a waiter and put her order in. “It’s not like anything can happen.” 

“Sure it could! Jeremy’s…” Rich waved a hand, gesturing to Jeremy’s face and body, “… attractive enough. He could land a hot single dad if he wanted, easy.”

“What does that even mean? Attractive enough?” Jeremy asked, feeling a little insulted. Sure, he knew he wasn’t super hot or anything (and Michael was _way_ out of his league), but still. That just sounded mean.

“I mean, you’re good looking and all, but I personally wouldn’t fuck you,” Rich said reasonably. “But I’m a picky bitch, so…” Jeremy snorted a little at that.

“I didn’t mean that you couldn’t get a guy, Jeremy,” Brooke said quickly, reaching across the table to pat the back of Jeremy’s hand kindly. “I just meant that you can’t date a student’s parent, you know?”

“That rule is totally bullshit and you know it,” Rich said dismissively. “I’ve been with many a single parent and nothing’s ever happened.”

“Screwing them and dating them are different things,” Brooke retorted. “Though, I don’t think you’re supposed to do either.”

Jeremy slumped back in his seat. “Great.” He sighed, downing the rest of his drink. “I mean, it doesn’t matter, anyway. Nothing was going to happen either way.”

“Who is this guy, anyway?” Brooke asked. “Would I know him?”

Jeremy blinked. “Uh, yeah, you had Logan in your class last year, didn’t you?” Brooke’s mouth fell into a small ‘o’ and an understanding look dawned on her face.

“Oh, honey,” she said sympathetically. “Oh, poor, sweet, innocent Jeremy.”

“What?” Jeremy looked at her strangely, but she just shook her head.

“Oh, just- pretty much everyone gets a crush on Michael at some point. I’m pretty sure all the PTA moms have a thing for him, never mind the fact that most of them are married and he’s gay.” Brooke sat back as the waiter showed up with all of their food and Brooke’s sangria. They passed the food around and dug in, the conversation lulling as they ate.

"But, he's single?" Rich pressed, as if that made any difference at this point. Brooke rolled her eyes, but nodded.

Jeremy thought about it as he ate his burger. He shook his head. It was a stupid crush and it wasn’t going to turn into anything. He could get over it. He _would_ get over it.

—

He did not get over it.

The next day was a lot more chill than the first. The kids knew where they were going, the parents didn’t seem to want to hover quite as much. Everything seemed to be going well. Jeremy started in for real on his lessons, passing out worksheets to see where each of the kids were in math. Some of the boys were a little rowdy, but Jeremy handled it with ease.

It was also the first day of art class. Art class was once a week and, for Jeremy’s class, it was on Wednesdays at 10 o’clock. After naming Kyle and Jessica the line leader and caboose respectively, Jeremy led the class down to the art room and dropped them off.

He’d just sat down and started going through the math worksheets (there were a surprising number of students struggling to do basic subtraction) when there was a soft knock on the door. Immediately, Jeremy’s mind went into overdrive and he started imagining that it was the art teacher saying that one of his students had gotten hurt or killed while painting or choked on a piece of clay or something equally horrendous. 

But when he opened the door, it was not the elderly art teacher on the other side. It was Michael Mell. He looked slightly frazzled, his hair not quite as neatly gelled as it had been yesterday. His button up shirt was untucked and he wasn’t wearing a tie.

He took Jeremy’s breath away.

“Hi, Jeremy- I mean, Mr. Heere,” Michael said, smiling. His smile Jeremy’s traitorous heart flutter in his chest.

“Jermey’s fine,” Jeremy said quickly, stepping back to let Michael into the room. “The kids aren’t here, so it’s cool. They’re in art class right now,” he added when he saw Michael’s confused expression. He nodded in understanding. “So, uh, what can I help you with?”

Michael held out his hand and, for the first time, Jeremy realized he was holding a Captain America lunch box. “Logan forgot his lunch and I was running late anyway, so I figured I’d save my mom the trip and drop it off myself.”

“Oh, of course. If you want, you can just put it in Logan’s cubby and I’ll make sure he knows it’s there for lunch.” Michael did, though it took him a second to find Logan’s cubby out of them all. Jeremy stood back, a little awkwardly. He knew he should probably get back to his grading, hopefully getting it all done before he had to pick the kids up from art class, but he couldn’t find it in himself to do so.

“Oh, no way!” Michael cried as he spotted the poster Jeremy had hung above the cubbies. It was a large tri-force symbol to help illustrate the three golden rules of class- raise your hand, respect each other, and clean up your own messes. Jeremy had gotten the idea from Pinterest, if he was being honest. “Pac Man _and_ Legend of Zelda in one classroom? You’re really into the vintage video games, aren’t you?”

He looked back at Jeremy, who flushed and shrugged a little. “I mean, yeah. Though I couldn’t find a way to incorporate Apocalypse of the Damned anywhere.”

Michael groaned, whirling around to face Jeremy. “Dude, I honestly think you are my dream man. I haven’t met anyone since high school who had any idea what AotD is.”

“It’s all I used to play,” Jeremy admitted. “I swear I spent hours and hours of my life trying to get past level fourteen. I was convinced for a good week that my game was glitching and not letting me move on.”

Michael snorted. “God, I had to look up so many walkthroughs and cheats to get past that level. It was the absolute worst.”

“Though, to be fair, nothing could be worse than AotD 2,” Jeremy said, half sitting on a desk. Michael laughed out loud, throwing his head back, and then nodded. He mirrored Jeremy, sitting so their knees bumped lightly.

“AotD 2 was an abomination,” Michael said seriously. “A horrendous mistake.”

Jeremy couldn’t help but laugh at the serious look on Michael’s face. And then his laughter made Michael start laughing.

“Wow, I never had any friends who were into that kind of stuff,” Jeremy said. “It made AotD especially hard, trying to play it by myself.”

“I always just forced my friend to play with me, even if he wanted to play Call of Duty or some shit.” Jeremy made a face. “I know, right! My general rule is that anything created in the last fifteen years is garbage.”

Jeremy thought about it, then nodded. “Good rule.”

Michael started in on a rant about how contemporary videos sacrificed quality content for better graphics, talking while waving his hands wildly for emphasis. Jeremy was enraptured, utterly captivated by Michael’s passion for the subject. Of course, it was an interesting argument already, but something about Michael made it that much more. Michael made it sound _important_. He really had a way with words (or maybe Jeremy was just already in way too deep).

It only felt like they had been talking for five minutes when Jeremy’s phone went off, the alarm telling him he needed to go pick up his class from the art room.

“Shit, it’s already eleven?” Jeremy jumped up, silencing the alarm. “I gotta get to the art room.”

“Fuck,” Michael cursed, “I’m so, so late! My boss is gonna kill me.”

“Sorry for keeping you,” Jeremy said as they both headed for the door. Michael shook his head.

“Don’t be. You’re a pretty cool guy, Jeremy.” He bumped shoulders with Jeremy, giving him a soft look. Jeremy could have melted right then and there.

—

“Are you sure I can’t date him?” Were the first words out of Jeremy’s mouth when he walked into the teacher’s lounge. Rich and Brooke were sitting on one of the couches already. Jeremy was coming to realize that they weren’t really close to any of the other teachers, though Brooke (at least) was friendly with everyone. (It made Jeremy wonder why she chose to include him in their little circle.)

Rich broke into laughter right away, almost choking on his chips.

“Do it,” he said through coughs, his face growing red. “You so should! You can sneak around during field trips and bake sales- it’d be hot.”

“No, no, no,” Brooke said firmly. She scooted over so Jeremy could sit on the end of the couch and turned to him seriously. “I know you like him. Michael’s a really sweet guy and maybe, if I were into guys, I could admit that he’s hot. But it’s literally in the rulebook- no ‘mixing’ with parents. You could get fired.”

“But why?” Jeremy all but whined, pouting. “What does it even matter?”

“Well, you could be accused of favoritism,” Brooke said, thinking about it. 

“Towards Michael?”

“Towards Logan.” Brooke ran a hand through her hair. “You know, giving him better grades or special privileges.”

“I wouldn’t do that, though,” Jeremy insisted. He opened his McDonald’s bag and pulled out the box of chicken nuggets. He’d taken a leaf out of Brooke’s book and gone out to get lunch today. “I know how to keep private life out of work.”

“I think dating a student’s parent automatically mixes the two.”

Jeremy looked around Brooke at Rich, who seemed to be ignoring them. When he noticed Jeremy was staring, he gave a shit-eating grin. “I still say do it. The sneaking around makes it hotter, anyway.”

“Rich!” Brooke smacked his shoulder. “You’re not helping.”

“I’m helping him get some.” Brooke let out an exasperated sigh and gave Jeremy a long, very motherly look. Jeremy sighed, too, knowing she was right. He’d only just gotten this job; he really couldn’t afford to lose it over something like this. No matter how cute and nerdy and perfect Michael seemed to be.

God, this was going to be a long year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy, three chapters in three days??? I'm on a roll! Lmao don't get too used to it though, I'm not usually this quick with the updates :p but I'm trying to write as much as possible while I'm on break from school, so we'll see how much I can get posted before I go back. I'm really happy you all seem to like this story, though! I absolutely love reading all of your comments. Thank you all so much for everything!! <3


	4. Chapter 4

Jeremy watched as the clock counted down to the end of the school day. Michael’s mother had picked Logan up for the past two days, having explained that Michael was doing some overtime. But today was Monday, the first full week of the school year, and Jeremy had a feeling Michael would be there.

He knew he needed to act cool, act _professional_ when he saw Michael. Treat him like any of the other parents who were picking their kids up. But still, his stomach twisted. He both wanted to see Michael and didn’t want to. He wanted to see him, and talk to him, and just be near him- but at the same time, he knew the temptation would just make it worse.

Jeremy was always the kind of guy to fall way too hard, way too fast.

He sat down at his desk, calling for clean-up time. The kids were getting better at listening and actually cleaning up after themselves, so that was nice. He’d found during his student teaching that at this age, doing some sort of craft was the best way to keep the kids occupied as it neared the end of the school day. That still seemed to be true (it was the best way to keep them quiet and in their seats, at least), but it sure did make a mess.

“Uh, Mr. Heere?” Jeremy looked and saw Logan shyly approaching his desk. Oh, no. Logan looked like a disaster. He was covered in what must have been blue glitter glue. It was all over his cheek and the right lens of his glasses. It looked like it was even in his hair. “I, uh, had an accident?”

Jeremy didn’t know whether to laugh or lecture, so he just shook his head and smiled. 

“You know,” Jeremy said, half teasing, “I don’t think I ever said you guys could play with the glitter glue.” Logan flushed, like he was expecting to get yelled at. Automatically, he pointed over to one of his friends.

“Ryan said it was okay!”

“But Ryan’s not the teacher, is he?” Jeremy said, trying his best to be serious. It was hard; the kid just looked so silly! It really was a picture-perfect moment. “Is there a big mess, or is this the extent of it?” Jeremy gestured vaguely towards Logan’s… everything.

“It all landed on me,” Logan said sheepishly. “It was an accident, I swear! The glue wasn’t coming out and Kyle was squeezing it and then it just exploded all over me.”

Jeremy couldn’t help it; he laughed. Logan was just so earnest about it! It was honestly adorable. Logan looked confused for a moment, but relieved that he didn’t seem to be in trouble. Jeremy tried to get a grip on his laughter so he could help clean the kid up. First things first, though, he made a detour to the group of boys and confiscated all the glitter glue. He’d talk to them tomorrow about getting permission to use the special art supplies.

Logan followed Jeremy at the heels like a little puppy as Jeremy walked around the room. He announced the school day over and opened the door to let the parents pick up their kids. Finally, he brought Logan to the classroom sink and wet some paper towels. Jeremy did his best to clean the glitter glue off of Logan’s glasses while instructing Logan to scrub at his right cheek. 

Jeremy frowned in concentration, biting down on his tongue as he worked. The glitter glue was a real bitch.

“Bye, Mr. Heere!” Kids called as their parents came to get them. Jeremy glancing up, making sure the kids were going home with the correct people, and called back his goodbyes as well. The room emptied out pretty quick

“It won’t come out,” Logan whined, yanking hard on his hair. The glitter glue had mostly come off his skin, but seemed to be clinging stubbornly to his hair.

“You know,” Jeremy said lightly, wetting a fresh paper towel and wiping at Logan’s hair, “this is why you weren’t supposed to use the glitter glue. It’s too messy.”

Logan pouted, puffing his cheeks a little. He shoved his glasses back on his nose and made a face at the blue streaks Jeremy hadn’t been able to wash off. Jeremy was as gentle as he could be as he tried to get all the glitter glue out.

“I know,” Logan said glumly. “But Ryan said-”

“But Ryan’s not in charge, now is he?” Jeremy made sure to keep his tone light and fair. This wasn’t supposed to be a lecture.

“No. But why have glitter glue if we’re not gonna use it?”

“Well, I had some ideas for it, but now I’m second-guessing them.” This mess was probably not worth it, now that Jeremy thought about it. Model solar systems could look cool without sparkles, he supposed.

“What happened here?” Jeremy almost jumped out of his skin when Michael spoke up as he walked into the classroom.

“Glitter glue explosion,” he explained, turning to see Michael. He looked good (when did he not?) and it flustered Jeremy. “Still not quite sure how it only ended up on Logan, but here we are.”

Logan looked down at his feet guiltily. Michael and Jeremy shared a knowing look.

“Bud, is there something you wanna say?” Michael asked, bending down so he was eye level with his son. Jeremy could really see how Logan was Michael’s little Mini-Me with them side-by-side. It was almost startling how much Logan looked like his dad. Jeremy let his arm drop, holding the glittery, blue paper towel loosely.

“We wanted to have a glue fight,” Logan mumbled to Michael. He looked up over the top of his glasses at Jeremy, eyes wide. “But Ryan went first and made a big mess. And it was almost time to go and I thought we were gonna get in trouble and-”

Michael started talking lowly to Logan, calming him down. Jeremy stepped back, feeling like he was intruding. He picked up all the paper towels and took them over to the trash can.

The room was pretty neat, considering Jeremy hadn’t really overseen cleanup too well today. He walked around, pushing some chairs in and picking up a few scraps of paper.

“Hey.” Jeremy turned to see Michael walking up to him. Logan was back over by his desk, packing up his backpack. “I talked to him, but feel free to, like, make him sit out at recess or whatever-” Jeremy shook his head, effectively cutting him off.

“Nah. I think I’ll just hide all the glitter glue and call it a day. I think he feels bad enough about it.” Michael beamed, nodding a little.

“Damn. I wish I had such an understanding teacher when I was his age,” he said softly. His hand moved slowly, his fingertips brushing softly against the inside of Jeremy’s wrist. It was so faint that it was barely even there, but Jeremy felt like his skin was on fire. “My teachers always gave me time out for accidentally gluing my hand to the desk.”

Jeremy snorted, looking down. “You glued your hand to your desk?”

“I was seven!” Michael said, mock-offended. His fingers were still brushing against Jeremy’s hands and, without thinking, Jeremy grabbed his hand. He squeezed lighting. Michael’s grin softened and he squeezed back. There was a twinkle in his eye.

“Dad, I’m ready to go!” Logan slung his backpack over his shoulders. As if he’d been burned, Jeremy dropped Michael’s hand and stepped back. He was sure he was blushing, but he quickly said goodbye to Logan and Michael and went back to his desk.

Once Jeremy was alone, his slumped back into his chair. His head fell forward and into his hands.

That- that was flirting, right? Michael had been flirting with Jeremy? He wasn’t crazy, or over-exaggerating? This wasn’t just him having a crush on a parent, then. It was reciprocated.

And that was gonna make this a whole lot harder.

—

The next week or so went pretty much the same. Jeremy would teach, drop the kids off at their special classes, pick them up, eat lunch with Rich and Brooke. Pick the kids up from recess, do a few more lessons, arts and crafts time, and then cleanup and time to go home. Jeremy fell easily into the routine and found he really enjoyed it. Second grade work was easy to grade, the worksheets easy to make, and everything seemed to be going fine.

There was just one problem part of Jeremy’s new daily routine. Okay, so that doesn’t sound all that fair. It’s not that Jeremy wasn’t _enjoying_ the last part of his routine- it was just that he knew he shouldn’t be allowing it to happen.

Michael picked Logan up from school every day, and every day he would flirt with Jeremy. Not a lot, and not inappropriately, as they were in an elementary school, but still. It was enough to fluster Jeremy every single time.

On Tuesday, Logan insisted on finishing up the card he was making for his grandma.

“I’m almost done, it just needs more purple,” Logan insisted. He had two different purple markers and four purple crayons on his desk. He looked at Jeremy seriously and said, “Purple is Nana’s favorite color.”

Jeremy nodded in understanding. Logan was taking his Nana’s card very seriously.

Stepping a little away from Logan, Michael said lowly, “She actually hates the color purple, but Logan thinks it’s her favorite and she won’t tell him otherwise.”

“That’s so cute.” Logan bent over his card, drawing carefully with one of the markers. His little tongue stuck out between his lips as he concentrated.

Michael leaned a little close to Jeremy and, instinctively, Jeremy leaned back.

“It is,” Michael agreed lowly, “but I think you’re cuter.” 

Jeremy was as red as a tomato. He cleared his throat, but didn’t move.

“O-oh?” He asked softly, looking up at Michael. Michael looked a little red, too, which was freaking adorable. “You do?”

“Yeah,” he said quietly. His hand rested on the small of Jeremy’s back lightly, and somehow that is what brought Jeremy back down to Earth. He couldn’t do this.

Luckily, his phone went off right then, buzzing loudly on his desk. Jeremy jumped away from Michael, muttering a quick, “S-sorry,” and ran to grab the phone. It was his dad.

Logan shouted a big, “Bye, Mr. Heere!” as they left. Michael gave Jeremy a wave, looking unperturbed.

Wednesday, Logan was angry because he’d been put in time-out for throwing a pencil at Jessica Langston when she answered a question that he’d just gotten wrong. He wouldn’t even look at Jeremy when he tried to talk to him about the incident.

“Bye, Mr. Heere,” Jessica called loudly as her aunt led her out the door. Jeremy waved in response, sitting at his desk. He started gathering the worksheets he needed to take home and grade for the night, keeping an eye on the kids still in the room.

Michael came in, the same time as he always did, and walked up to Logan. Logan refused to talk to him, which Jeremy didn’t think was very fair. It was _him_ Logan was mad at, not Michael.

“Yikes,” Michael said, approaching Jeremy’s desk. Jeremy raised his eyebrows and nodded in response. Michael half-sat on the edge of Jeremy’s desk, looking curious. “Bad day?”

“More like a bad twenty minutes,” Jeremy replied, “but it put him in a bad mood.”

“Yeah, he’s not the best at letting shit go,” Michael said. “I try to help, but I’m not great at letting go of grudges either.”

“I was always terrible at _holding_ grudges,” Jeremy admitted. “I’d forget in, like, ten minutes that I was ever mad in the first place.”

“That’s not necessarily a bad thing.”

“It is when you’re in a fight with your cousin and you forget she’s mad at you and then she punches you in the stomach.” Michael winced.

“That sucks, Jer.” Jeremy jerked at the nickname, his knee coming up and hitting the underside of his desk hard. “Whoa, you okay?”

“Fine- I’m fine!” Jeremy said, though his knee ached like a bitch. “Just a leg spasm? I think?”

“You think?” Michael didn’t look like he believed Jeremy much, so Jeremy smiled his most convincing smile and nodded.

“Let’s go.” Logan practically appeared out of nowhere, still looked thoroughly pissed off. He tugged hard on Michael’s hand. 

“Okay, buddy,” Michael said. “You gonna say goodbye?”

“No.” Uh, ouch. Michael shot Jeremy an apologetic look.

“I’ll talk to him,” he mouthed. Jeremy waved, hoping he looked understanding.

By the next day, Thursday, Logan seemed to have forgiven Jeremy. He was his usual, happy self and even allowed Jeremy to place a bandaid on his carpet-burned knee when he fell in class. At lunch, Jeremy asked Brooke if it was normal to have a favorite student.

“Is he your favorite just because you like his dad?” Brooke asked knowingly. Jeremy flushed at the fact that she assumed he was talking about Logan. Well, he _was_ , but still!

“No, he’s genuinely a good kid! He just kinda… sticks out? That sounds weird.”

“Ellie was my favorite last year,” Brooke said. “I still miss her. I have a bunch of little gremlins this year.” She made a face and Jeremy couldn’t help but laugh at her.

“Ellie’s a sweet kid,” he agreed. “She’s still being really shy, though.”

Brooke nodded. “Yeah, it took her a good month to get comfortable around me. I’m sure she’ll come around.”

The day had gone fairly smoothly, for which Jeremy was grateful. He had a good group of kids, so there weren’t a whole lot of issues. He did have to spend an extra ten minutes during math time, but it just cut into the kids’ arts and crafts time a little. Not a huge deal.

Jeremy knew he needed to appreciate these easy days. If his luck had any say in it, things would go south sooner or later.

Group number two didn’t do a good job cleaning up today, though, and they all skipped out of the classroom before Jeremy realized. He sighed to himself and got down on his knees, picking up handfuls of paper scraps. He bent down farther so he could slip under the desk to grab a rather big piece of paper.

He heard a low whistle. “Damn.”

The fact that Jeremy could identify Michael just by his voice when it was only the second week of school was… concerning, to say the least. Jeremy flushed, though, when he realized Michael was checking out his ass.

He crawled out backwards from under the desk quickly, his butt bumping into Michael’s legs. Blushing furiously, Jermey sat back and looked up.

“Um, hello,” he said. “Just, uh, cleaning up.” He waved his handfuls of paper as proof. Michael nodded, looking amused.

“I see that.” His fingers danced near Jeremy’s ear, like he wanted to grab at his hair. The thought made Jeremy blush harder. God, he needed to get a grip!

Stumbling, Jeremy tried to climb up. He struggled, though, and Michael caught him before he could fall flat on his face.

“Hey, hey, are you okay?” Michael asked earnestly. Oh, god. His face was so close to Jeremy’s. Jeremy opened his mouth, but then realized he didn’t trust himself not to make an utter fool of himself (more than he had already, that is), so he shut it and nodded furiously. Michael helped him find his balance, holding on to both of his elbows.

“I’m not very coordinated,” Jeremy blurted out, then inwardly cringed. Luckily, Michael just chuckled.

“I mean, I can see that. You need help?” He still hadn’t dropped his arms. Jeremy’s head swam from the contact, his skin tingling. He was about to answer, to say yes even though he really didn’t, when-

“Mr. Heere?” Grateful for the interruption, Jeremy whirled away from Michael to see Kyle Riera’s grandmother. “Sorry to interrupt, but I was wondering if you could explain the math homework to me? I try to help Kyle, but this… Common Core stuff is just…” She trailed off. Jeremy nodded. He shot Michael one last look, surprised to see Michael looking wistfully at him, and stepped over to help Mrs. Riera.

“Yeah, Common Core can be tricky,” he said. He dropped his pile of paper scraps on the table to free up his hands and did his best to explain the homework. By the time he was done and Mrs. Riera seemed to understand what Kyle needed to do, Michael and Logan were gone.

Jeremy let out a loud sigh. It was harder than he thought to keep his crush to himself. Especially when his crush seemed to want him, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lmao, sorry if that was just really awkward. Ya girl has no idea how to flirt... I promise the next chapter will be better!


	5. Chapter 5

Thank god it was Friday. Jeremy had found that he loved his job, but he was _so_ looking forward to the weekend. Two whole days without having to interact with children? It almost felt like a dream about to come true.

It was a rainy day outside, which actually really sucked. That meant they had to have indoor recess, which cut all of the teachers’ breaks in half. It just made everyone that much more anxious for the weekend.

Jeremy just followed Rich and Brooke’s lead as they picked their students up from the cafeteria instead of the playground. Rich was muttering under his breath all the way until the cafeteria was in sight, cursing the “goddamn rain” for ruining his “fucking” day. As a kid, Jeremy remembered loving indoor recess (playing board games in the classroom beat being chased by bullies on the playground any day), but now he was right there with Rich, though he refrained from swearing inside the school. With his luck, a student would overhear him the one time he did it (or worse… the principal).

The kids even seemed bummed about the rain, though. Kyle kept insisting that he had a raincoat, so he should be allowed to play outside.

“Not how it works, buddy,” Jeremy said, clapping him on the back. He led the kids back to the classroom, shut the door, and opened the cabinet above the sinks. His dad had gone all out when Jeremy had mentioned needing board games for the classroom. He’d bought Jeremy _tons_ of brand new board games. Jeremy didn’t want to think about the amount of money his father had spent on them. He pulled them down, handing them off to the kids.

Ryan and Kyle were playing Guess Who on the ground. A group of four kids broke out Candyland. Ellie clutched the box for Disney Sorry! to her chest, but didn’t seem to know who to ask to play. Jeremy noticed Logan and Kelsea weren’t doing anything yet and intervened.

“Ellie,” he said kindly, “how about we see if Logan and Kelsea want to play Sorry with you?” Ellie held the box closer to her chest, but nodded. Poor girl was far too shy for her own good.

Kelsea was easy to convince to play, but Logan seemed like he didn’t really want to.

“I was gonna draw,” he said, holding up his notebook for emphasis. Jeremy raised his eyebrows.

“You know, Sorry’s more fun with three players,” Jeremy said, hoping Logan would catch his drift. Logan fiddled with his notebook, jutting out his lower lip. 

“It’s okay, Mr. Heere,” Ellie said softly. “Kelsea and I can just play.”

“Yeah, it’ll still be fun!” Kelsea dragged Ellie by the arm to an open space on the carpet to set up the game. 

“See, it’s okay,” Logan said, opening up his notebook.

“Uh-huh,” Jeremy said. He scanned the room, seeing if he could round up any more players for Sorry. Logan sighed loudly.

“ _Fine_ ,” he said, pushing his glasses up his nose. He looked practically pained, but snapped his notebook shut. “I’ll play one game, but that’s it!” He pointed his finger defiantly at Jeremy, as if daring him to argue. Jeremy held up his hands in surrender.

“Hey, I’m not making you do anything,” he said. “It was just an idea.”

“Yeah, right,” Logan replied knowingly. “My dad does the same thing.”

“Oh, does he?”

“Yeah huh.”

“Well, it’s a good move,” Jeremy had to admit. Logan rolled his eyes (when do kids learn how to do that?) and walked over to the girls. He gave Jeremy one last pointed look before plopping down and declaring he was going to be the green player.

Jeremy hoped he could just sit at his desk and work while the kids played, but indoor recess was truly Satan’s work and he had absolutely no time to even sit down. He was breaking up arguments, he had to take away Monopoly because apparently Jessica cheated and Lori threw the metal hat at her head (Lori had to sit out for the rest of recess for that one). Some of the boys thought wrestling would be a good idea and Jeremy narrowly managed to save Ryan from bashing his head on the corner of a desk.

By the time recess was over and cleaned up, Jeremy was ready for a nap. Luckily, it was reading time after recess, so he didn’t have a whole lot of hands-on work to do. He just had to wander around and help out if he noticed anyone struggling. He couldn’t sit down and relax like he wanted to, but at least he didn’t have a whole lot that he had to do. It was a compromise of sorts.

By the end of the day, Jeremy was more than ready to go home. It was still rainy and gloomy outside, but at least he didn’t have to be at work any longer. He stuffed his papers into his messenger bag hastily, impatiently waiting for parents to come pick up their kids.

Jeremy tried not to perk up when Michal walked into the room, but it was hard. Inwardly, he chastised himself. He needed to be strong- he couldn’t afford to lose this job. 

“Grandma!” Logan jumped out of his seat and ran to the door. One of his grandmothers, a pretty blonde woman, had followed Michael into the room. She bent down to hug Logan tight, laughing at his enthusiasm.

Huh. Jeremy wondered why both Michael and his mother were picking Logan up today. Sure, they were still only in the second week of the school year, but a certain pattern had been set up by now. Grandma dropped Logan off in the mornings and Michael picked him up in the afternoons. And, from what Jeremy had noticed, Nana picked Logan up if Michael couldn’t. 

Michael’s mother took Logan by the hand, asking if he wanted to show her around the school some. Logan seemed excited at the idea and barely remembered to say goodbye before dragging his grandma down the hall. Michael stayed in the room, pushing Logan’s chair under his desk.

He looked up, eyes meeting Jeremy’s. Flushing, Jeremy dropped his gaze down to his desk. Absently, he straightened the stapler.

Michael seemed to be waiting for something. He was standing idly by Logan’s desk, running his fingers around the edge of the name tag. It put Jeremy on edge, wondering what was going on. He shouldered his messenger bag as he called out goodbye to Ryan and Mr. Morrison as they walked out the door.

After a few minutes, it was just Jeremy and Michael in the room. Jeremy wondered if he should approach Michael now, or wait since Michael clearly had some sort of plan. He even brought his mom to get Logan out of the room, for goodness’ sake!

Finally, after what felt like an eternity but what was probably only a minute or so, Michael cleared his throat.

“I’m sorry.” Jeremy blinked; that was probably one of the last things he’d been expecting Michael to say.

“Uh,” Jeremy said, “why?”

Michael stuffed his hands his pockets, keeping his distance. He stared resolutely at the faux wooden desk. “I crossed a line yesterday. Or- maybe I’ve been crossing lines? I don’t know, I think I must have been reading this whole situation wrong, but I thought you were interested. In me. And I clearly made you uncomfortable yesterday- and maybe this whole week, too. So, I’m sorry. I’ll back off, I promise.”

Having said what he came to say, Michael made to leave.

Jeremy stood frozen for a moment, blinded by surprise. It took him too long to cry out, “Wait!”

Michael paused, turning back. Their eyes met. Jeremy’s heart _ached_. Michael looked so dejected and he felt awful for being the reason Michael felt like that. God, he needed to grow up and use his words. He couldn’t let Michael think this was all a misunderstanding on his part.

“You don’t have anything to apologize for,” Jeremy said, voice wavering slightly. Michael quirked an eyebrow, looking confused, so Jeremy went on. “You didn’t make me feel uncomfortable and you definitely haven’t been reading anything wrong. I’m interested. I’m so, so interested.

“It’s just- nothing can happen.” The momentary happiness on Michael’s face was replaced with a mixture of hurt and confusion. “That’s why I’ve been getting so- so flustered. I like you a lot, far more than I should, but it’s kind of strictly against the rules for a teacher to date one of their students’ parents.”

“I see,” Michael said after a moment. The air was tense and thick. Jeremy took a careful step closer to Michael.

“I should be the one who’s sorry,” Jeremy said. “I should have said something- put a stop to it right away.” Unable to help himself, Jeremy closed the distance until he was standing right in front of Michael. He touched Michael’s arm tentatively.

“Don’t be sorry,” Michael said hoarsely. He was barely taller than Jeremy, but it was nice to have to look up to face him. He had such nice, kind eyes. Beautiful. God, he was even more beautiful close up. Michael’s free hand moved to hold onto Jeremy’s elbow gently. “So, I- I wasn’t wrong?”

Jeremy shook his head. “I’m kind of obvious when I’m interested in someone,” he confessed a little ruefully. He sighed. “It’s just- nothing can happen. At least, not while Logan is in my class.”

“He’ll be in your class for the next ten months.”

“Yeah.” That really sucked to think about. God, the school year had barely begun and Jeremy was already wishing it was over. “Michael-” Jeremy started, but cut himself off. What could he say? There was nothing.

But Michael was _right there_ and he was softly holding Jeremy’s arm and Jeremy felt his head go cloudy and-

Jeremy went up on his tiptoes just a tad, connecting their mouths. Michael’s lips felt soft against his own and Jeremy freaking melted into the kiss. He tightened his grip on Michael’s arm, reaching up with his other hand to cling to Michael’s waist. Michael’s work shirt felt silky and nice in his grip.

And god, could Michael kiss! It was true that Jeremy had never had all that much experience with kissing and dating, but Michael was by far the best person Jeremy had ever kissed. He felt like he was floating on air, like Michael was the only thing in the entire universe.

He never wanted this kiss to end.

“Uh, never mind Brooke, he’s kinda busy!” Jeremy jumped back, startled by Rich’s voice. He looked around Michael to see Rich standing in the doorway to the classroom, a shit-eating grin on his face. Brooke appeared next to him, curious. She took one look at Jeremy and Michael and gave Jeremy a reproachful glare.

“Jeremy!” She scolded.

“Uh, hi, Mrs. Lohst,” Michael said awkwardly. He took an additional step backwards, bumping into a desk. “I should- um- I should go find my son. And mom. Bye, Jeremy.” Quickly, Michael scurried out of the room.

“Nice!” Rich said, walking over to Jeremy with his hand up for a hi-five.

“Rich, stop encouraging him!” Brooke had her hands on her hips and looked utterly disappointed in Jeremy. It was kind of ruining Jeremy’s post-kiss high. “Jeremy, what the hell? You’re gonna get yourself fired.”

“I know,” Jeremy moaned, sitting back on a desk. “I didn’t mean to, I swear! I was telling him how we can’t do anything then- he was just right there and he looked so good and I couldn’t help myself.”

Rich whistled lowly. “I mean, I can’t blame you, dude. I would _totally_ hit that.” Both Brooke and Jeremy gave him a sour look, to which he held his hands up in mock surrender. “Hey, there are no rules saying _I_ can’t ‘mix’ with him.” Jeremy’s looked soured even more, which earn a laugh from Rich.

“Jeremy.” Brooke sounded stern. “I’m your friend- at least, I want to be. But I can’t just sit here while you break this rule. This is important. So you need to either tell Michael once and for all that nothing is going to happen while Logan is in your class, or I’m going to have to go to the principal.”

Jeremy felt like the breath had been knocked out of him. Even Rich looked astounded at Brooke’s ultimatum.

“Brooke-” Rich tried, but Brooke cut him off sharply.

“Don’t ‘Brooke’ me,” she said firmly. “I’m serious, okay? Now, Rich and I were going to go to Applebee’s for Happy Hour and wanted to see if you would like to come, too.” 

Jeremy’s good mood was long gone and honestly, the thought of eating anything made his stomach curl. 

“I’m good, thanks,” he said blandly. Brooke grimaced.

“I’m sorry,” she said sincerely, “I really am. You should come. Chloe’s gonna be there. I really want you two to meet.”

“You should come,” Rich agreed, punching Jeremy’s knee softly.

“I- maybe next time. I want to get my grading out of the way tonight.” Jeremy stood, shouldering his bag. His stomach felt like his was full of lead. “I’ll see you guys on Monday, okay?”

He didn’t wait for them to respond before walking out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for all your kind messages on the last chapter, and for helping this story hit 100 kudos!! I was so excited for this chapter that I flew through it last night :p I hope you guys enjoyed it!
> 
> Also, in case anyone wants to know, I'm using the same characters for Michael's moms as I did in Satellite. Logan calls Alina 'Nana' and Stacy 'Grandma'. They'll get introduced properly later on in the story.


	6. Chapter 6

Things had been… awkward at best since last Friday. It had been a week of awkwardness, and it was sort of eating Jeremy alive. Things were awkward between Jeremy and Michael; the kiss had stirred up a lot of feelings and it was almost painful to know Michael wanted to date Jeremy, too, but they couldn’t. Jeremy hadn’t even had to say anything; one look from him on Monday told Michael all he needed to know. That didn’t make it any easier, though.

Things were awkward with Brooke, too, even though Jeremy had made it clear that nothing was going to happen between him and Michael. Brooke did her best to normalize things, but Jeremy was struggling to get back to that feeling of camaraderie. Rich tried to help bridge the gap, to keep Jeremy included, but it wasn’t easy. All Jeremy could think of was how she would have gotten him fired only a week ago- it was hard to build a friendship from something like that.

But life went on. The routine was still mostly the same and it was easy to follow. The only thing that was changing was that parent-teacher conferences were starting next Monday.

“God, conferences are the worst,” Rich complained at lunch on Friday. He sat in between Jeremy and Brooke, splayed back on the couch as he whined. “The parents who need to show up never do and the ones who do come, you never have anything to say! ‘Yeah, your kid never talks but she gets all her work done, so no problems here’. It’s such a waste of time.”

“And they take all day long,” Brooke added, stirring her smoothie with her straw. “God, the kids are lucky- at least they get the day off.”

“Mm,” Jeremy hummed. He really didn’t have much of an opinion on conferences yet.

“That’s all you got?” Rich asked, eyebrows raised. Jeremy shrugged.

“I mean, I don’t really know how it’ll go.” Jeremy grabbed his bag and pulled out a notebook. He opened it and flipped through the pages. “I started making notes in here about stuff I could talk to all the parents about, so hopefully I’ll have something to say to anyone who shows up.”

“Can I see?” Brooke asked, holding out her hand. Jeremy handed it over without a word. She flipped through the pages carefully, holding it so Rich could read over her shoulder if he wanted. She looked impressed. “This is pretty good, Jeremy.” 

“That’s a lot of extra work,” Rich said. Jeremy shrugged again.

“It’s just a little note here and there,” he explained, “so it’s not a lot of work all at once. And if it helps during conferences, then it’s worth it, right?”

“At least someone is prepared,” Brooke said, jabbing Rich lightly with her elbow. 

“Excuse you, I take my job very seriously,” Rich argued, “but conferences almost never accomplish their goal anyway, so who cares?”

“The school board.”

“Fuck the school board.”

“Don’t fuck the school board,” Jeremy quipped automatically. Brooke outright snorted at that, which was kind of surprising.

“Actually, that might solve all our problems,” she mused, chewing on her straw. 

“I’ll do it,” Rich said. “I’ll take one for the team.”

“We appreciate your sacrifice,” Jeremy said dryly. “But it would be more like taking nine for the team.” Rich thought about it for a moment.

“I’m game.”

“Rich, no!” Brooke and Jeremy groaned in unison. Jeremy flopped back on the couch, bouncing slightly. Rich just laughed at the two of them, but Jeremy wouldn’t have put it past him to actually try to hit up the next school board meeting. Even just as a joke.

Once the kids were packing up to go home, Jeremy settled in at his desk. He opened his conference notebook to make a few last minute notes from today. He really thought this would be helpful for Monday; he had at least two things to say about each of the kids (good and bad), so hopefully any parents who showed up would be satisfied with their conference.

To be honest, Jeremy was kind of nervous. Meeting new people was never a fun experience. Sure, he sort of knew the parents from drop-off and pick-up, but it was different to actually have to sit down and talk with them. It was still three days away and it was already giving Jeremy anxiety.

Jeremy was so focused that he didn’t realize a student had approached his desk until a notebook was placed on top of his own. Jeremy blinked, looking up to see Logan giving him a shy, toothy smile. Jeremy smiled back and looked back down at the drawing on the page.

“It’s Wolverine!” Logan said helpfully. He looked really proud of his drawing, though Jeremy was personally struggling to see the superhero in the scribbles. It looked more like… a dog with really long nails.

“It’s great,” he gushed. “You’re really talented, Logan.”

Logan beamed, his eyes shining. “It’s for you, see?” He pointed to the corner, where he’d written in his messy scrawl, “To: Mr Hear From: Logan Mell”. Jeremy didn’t have the heart to correct the spelling.

“That’s really nice of you. I’ll have to find a special place to put it.” Jeremy said sincerely. “Thank you.” Carefully, Jeremy tore the picture out of the notebook and handed the notebook back to Logan.

“You really like it?” He asked earnestly.

“It’s my new favorite drawing,” Jeremy promised. “Now, how about you go get ready to go home? You have a long weekend coming up!”

“I’m so excited,” Logan said, babbling as Jeremy walked him back to his cubby to grab his backpack. “Grandma said we can go to the carnival on Monday since I don’t have school! And I’m tall enough to go on the roller coaster now, and we’re gonna ride in the front row and the I’m gonna play lots of games and win tons of prizes!”

Jeremy laughed. “Well, it sounds like you’ll have a blast.”

“I will.”

Jeremy patted Logan on the back affectionately. He looked up just then, though, and saw Michael walk in the door.

“Right. Alright, everyone,” Jeremy stepped back, raising his voice to get all the students’ attention, “make sure you have the flyer about parent-teacher conferences on Monday. I hope to see all of your parents there, okay?”

There was a weak chorus of “okay”s, but Jeremy accepted it and went back over to his desk, pushing chairs in as he passed. He heard Logan shout goodbye and waved without looking.

He still met Michael’s eye before he walked out the door.

Awkward.

—

Jeremy always thought the classroom looked weird when it was empty. Like it was just some lifeless corpse without the students inside. It was roughly an hour after school would normally start on Monday. Conferences were starting in just a few minutes.

The conferences were set up as a sort of drop-in, first come first served setup. So parents could show up at any point during the course of the usual school day and meet with the teacher, but they’d have to wait their turn if other parents were there at the same time. It was annoying to Jeremy, though, because he had to stay until three o’clock even if no one showed up all day.

Jeremy basically sat around, bored, until ten o’clock when his first parent finally arrived. He perked up until he realized it was Mrs. Greene, Lucy’s mother. Great. Lucy was a great kid, but her mom was… challenging at best.

Still, Jeremy did his best to be friendly and polite. He offered her one of the chairs situated in front of his desk, which she sat in primly. She stared Jeremy down like he was a bug she’d found in her kitchen.

He cleared his throat, flipping through his notebook until he found what he’d written about Lucy. He talked about how Lucy was already ahead of her classmates in math, but still struggling to catch up in her reading skills.

“I thought you said you could help her?” Mrs. Greene asked sharply. Her arms were folded across her chest and she glared at him accusingly.

“I’ve been working with her,” Jeremy was quick to say, “and she _is_ improving. It’s just steady, and since she was already a grade behind her classmates-”

“Half. A grade. Behind,” Mrs. Greene bit out. She looked pissed.

“Uh, sure?” Jeremy wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but her intense glare was putting him on edge and he was doing his best to keep from floundering. “So, I mean, she is improving, but she’s just not catching up. Of course, it’s only been a month- she still has plenty of time to catch up.”

Mrs. Greene did not look impressed, but she didn’t argue further.

“Otherwise, Lucy’s great in class. She participates and never gets into trouble. She doesn’t seem to like group activities a whole lot, but that’s not really an issue-”

“Are you saying my daughter is anti-social?!”

Jeremy spluttered, trying to backtrack and correct himself.

By the time he finally got Mrs. Greene satisfied and out of his room, there were three parents waiting in the hall. Jeremy invited the next one in and got to work.

Brooke and Rich were right; conferences were the worst.

Finally, after he got through those three parents (all of whom were must easier to talk to than Mrs. Greene), he had a reprieve. It was almost twelve thirty by then, so he pulled out his lunch and set it on his desk. It was leftover potato salad and a small bag of pretzels. Jeremy figured he needed to stay in his room in case another parent showed up, so he just ate in there.

“Hey, you busy?” Jeremy paused his forkful of potato salad in midair, looking up to see Rich in the doorway. “Brooke’s with some parents, so I figured I’d come bother you for a bit.”

“Shouldn’t you be in your room?” Jeremy asked as Rich made himself comfy on one of the parents’ chairs. “What if someone shows up?”

“I left a note saying I was out for lunch,” Rich said. “They can wait.”

“I don’t think you’re supposed to do that.” Rich shrugged. He placed his feet up on the edge of Jeremy’s desk, reclining back on only two legs of the chair.

“It’s boring anyway,” he said, “so who cares? I’ve only had, like, three parents show up and they were in-and-out in no time.”

“I’ve had four parents and it took me two and a half hours to get through them all.”

Rich gave him a disbelieving look and shook his head. “You’re doing something wrong, then. Unless the kid’s really trouble, you should only be with a parent for, like, fifteen minutes at most.” Jeremy made a face.

“Oops.”

“Um, do I just come in?” Both of their heads snapped up to look at the door. Jeremy’s breath caught. Michael was standing in the doorway, hands shoved in his pockets. “I’m kinda on my lunch break, so…”

Rich fell backwards in his chair, hitting the floor with a muffled thud.

“Uh, yeah,” Jeremy said, swallowing hard. “Come on in. I was just…” He trailed off, shoving his Tupperware lid back on his food. 

“I’ll just beat it, then,” Rich said, rubbing the back of his head as he stood. He fixed his chair. “Should probably get back to my room, anyway. He gave Jeremy a look. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t, Jer.”

“That’s really not helpful, Rich.”

Rich just grinned and ducked out of the room, closing the door behind him with a definite _click_.

Michael hovered near the door, looking unsure.

“You can have a seat,” Jeremy said, nodding towards the pair of chairs. Michael shuffled over to them, sitting in the on furthest from Jeremy. Jeremy pretended that didn’t hurt his feelings a little. He looked down, pulling his notebook back out and flipping to the page with Logan’s notes. There really wasn’t much to say.

Jeremy cleared his throat. He glanced up at Michael, but glanced back down right away.

God, this was so stupid! They were grown men, couldn’t they just be normal for fifteen minutes and discuss Michael’s son? Why did their feelings have to get involved, anyway? It just made everything so much harder.

Jeremy thought he had an idea as to why parents and teachers dating wasn’t allowed now. They hadn’t even gotten together and everything was already needlessly complicated.

“So, Logan?” Michael spoke up, pulling at his collar a little. He looked just as nervous as Jeremy felt, which was little comfort.

“Logan,” Jeremy confirmed. He held up his notebook, but he really didn’t need it. “He’s a good kid, but I’m sure you already know that.” Michael smiled at that and Jeremy pretended that didn’t make him feel all warm and happy on the inside. “He has troubling spelling- I don’t think he’s ever gotten more than a 75 percent on a spelling test so far this year. But he’s ahead on his reading level, so that’s good. He can be talkative in class, but usually quiets down when I ask.”

“Usually?” Michael asked.

“Ryan eggs him on sometimes. I’m gonna have to put them on opposite sides of the room soon,” Jeremy explained. “More because Ryan tries to distract Logan than anything else.” Jeremy wished Ryan’s parents would show up for conferences- he definitely had a few words for them about their son.

“Yeah, Ryan’s a bit of a troublemaker,” Michael agreed, “but he’s Logan’s best friend.”

“He could do better.” Jeremy looked horrified the second that came out of his mouth, but Michael just broke out laughing. “Oh my god, I shouldn’t have said that.”

Michael couldn’t respond; he was laughing far too hard. He was actually doubled over with laughter. His laugh was infectious, though, and soon Jeremy found himself laughing as well. It took a minute for it to die down and them to regain their composure, but the atmosphere in the room was considerably lighter after.

“Oh god, I kind of hate that kid,” Michael admitted. “But, like, not enough to stop Logan from being his friend. But I wouldn’t shed a tear if he randomly moved to California tomorrow, you know?”

Jeremy shook his head in amusement. “Yeah, I know.”

Michael ran a hand through his hair, sighing. His watched beeped and he looked at it, frowning. “Shit, I gotta get back to work.”

“Oh.” Jeremy hated that he felt disappointed, but he did. “Well, I didn’t really have anything else to say about Logan anyway. He’s doing great so far.” Michael chewed on his bottom lip for a moment as he contemplated something. After a moment, he pulled out a receipt from his pocket and scribbled something on it. He handed it to Jeremy, looking a little red.

Puzzled, Jeremy accepted the receipt and looked at it.

_555-3010-1287- Michael Mell_

“Just in case you start having trouble with him before spring conferences,” Michael explained, though neither of them believed it. Jeremy folded the receipt back up and slipped it in his bag.

Carefully, he said, “I don’t think I will, but I’ll keep it just in case.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are!! Thank you all so much for 1000 views, I can't believe we got so many with just five chapters. You all are amazing and continue to wow me with your comments. I love you all so much.
> 
> Also, just a heads up: I go back to school tomorrow, so the updates might slow down a bit. I'll try my best to keep them semi-regular, but this is my last semester of college and a lot is happening at once, so we'll just have to see.


	7. Chapter 7

Michael made himself scarce over the few weeks following parent-teacher conferences, which made Jeremy feel worse and worse with each passing day that he did not use Michael’s phone number. Either Logan’s nana would pick him up in the after school or Michal would hang in the hallway instead of coming into the classroom. Jeremy had to admit that it was probably for the best, but that didn’t mean he had to like it.

He really, really didn’t like it.

Brooke suggested, more than once, that she could set Jeremy up on a date with one of her friends. “The best way to get over a crush is to find a new one,” she told him after school one day. “I have a couple people in mind who would be good for you.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” was all Jeremy could say. He didn’t really want to admit to Brooke that there was a part of him that didn’t really want to get over Michael. He knew he should (knew he _had_ to), but he didn’t want to.

She, Jeremy, Rich, and the librarian were holed up in Brooke’s room. She wanted some homemade decorations for Halloween in her classroom, so she’s recruited all of them to help. She’d been impressed by the large jack o’lanterns and bats Jeremy had drawn and hung on his own classroom’s walls. The librarian was an elderly woman who Jeremy had only spoken to in passing as he’d dropped his kids off in the library- but she had insisted on helping Brooke out.

“Mrs. Lohst is my favorite of all the teachers,” she’d confided in Jeremy. “She always brings me cookies around the holidays. Ever since my daughter and her husband moved away, they’re the only holiday sweets I get.”

Jeremy made himself a note to bake brownies for her around Thanksgiving.

But life moved on. As they rolled through October, rhythm of the school year finally settled in fully. Jeremy wasn’t so nervous anymore about teaching, and he knew how to handle the kids when they started misbehaving. For the most part, his class was actually pretty fantastic. Really he only had trouble with Ryan, Kyle, Jesse, and occasionally Eliza. 

Jeremy also noticed that Logan stopped allowing Ryan to goad him into acting out in class. He figured Michael probably talked to Logan after the parent-teacher conference. A small, terrible part of him wished Logan would act out some, if only so Jeremy would have an excuse to speak to Michael. (More than once, he considered making up a problem so he could call Michael- but he stopped himself every time. The whole point of this mess was for Jeremy _not_ to be unprofessional, after all.)

Finally, on a Tuesday night, Jeremy found himself at Applebee’s with Rich, Brooke, and her wife, Chloe. Rich brought himself a date, as well, which made Jeremy feel very fifth-wheel-ish. He sat in the middle of the curved booth, Rich and Brooke on either side of him, feeling a little left out. He dug into the spinach artichoke dip they’d ordered for the table and Rich and his date (a _really_ hot guy named Dustin) flirted inappropriately next to him.

Brooke and Chloe, though, seemed to notice Jeremy was sitting quietly by himself and tried to pull him into conversation. Chloe leaned over the table a bit so she could see him, which made him want to shrink into the vinyl lining of the booth even more. Chloe was… intimidating, to say the least. She was some hotshot lawyer whose looks could probably literally kill you if he tried. Her hair was perfectly curled, even after she loosed it from her sleek ponytail, and her eyeliner was sharp enough to cut you. She reminded Jeremy of the mean girls he’d gone to high school with.

She was surprisingly nice, though. Jeremy could tell Brooke had talked to her about their… falling out (if that was the best way to put it), and he could see Chloe trying to help mend it. It kind of made Jeremy feel good, to see how much they seemed to care.

“Yeah, we’re leaving,” Rich said suddenly. Dustin scooted out of the booth and Rich followed.

“We haven’t even ordered yet,” Brooke protested. “It’s half-off appetizers until six!”

Rich pulled Dustin close and looked like he really didn’t give a shit. “That’s cool. We’ll just eat later, bye.”

“Rich!”

Rich raised his eyebrows at her. “Brooke, we’re gonna go fuck now. ‘Kay?” Brooke looked mortified, especially when the elderly couple from the next table looked over at Rich and Dustin, utterly appalled.

Chloe and Jeremy burst out into laughter. Jeremy buried his burning face in his hands, trying to stifle his laughter as Rich practically dragged Dustin out of the restaurant.

“I can’t believe him,” Brooke said in a half-whisper. “I really, really can’t.”

“He really has no shame,” Jeremy said, trying to settle down. He accidentally made eye contact with the old man and broke out into laughter again. Rich may have no shame, but at least he was some quality entertainment.

—

Jeremy’s pants were covered in red paint, which was less than fortunate. There had been a… mishap when he’d gone to pick his class up from the art room. Ryan, bless his evil little heart, had stolen Genevieve's paper plate full of paint and she’d chased him for it back. Ryan, of course, hadn’t watched where he was going and ran headfirst into Jeremy’s torso, smearing his thighs with the blood-red paint. And, of course, he had to go the rest of the day wearing them because his apartment was too far of a drive to make it there and back _and_ have time to eat lunch.

By the end of the day, his pants were red and crusty, looking almost like rust as the paint chipped off in flakes. The flakes were all over the carpet (Jeremy walked around a lot as he taught). The janitor was going to hate him after this. His kids could barely concentrate because every time they looked at him while he taught, they would break out into giggles.

He really should have skipped lunch to change.

He figured his best chance at salvaging his reputation and hiding his painted pants from the parents would be to sit resolutely at his desk. He even asked Logan to open the door for the parents so Jeremy didn’t have to. Logan was more than willing to do this for him. (Jeremy had noticed that the kids took a strange amount of pride in doing small tasks for him, as if it were a sense of pride and accomplishment they could lord over their peers.)

The parents who were already lined up and waiting poured into the room, collecting their children one by one. Jeremy watched over the class, feeling at ease. Well, as at ease as he could be with crusty paint on the front of his slacks.

Things were going well until Logan sat up, smiling brightly at the man who walked through the door.

“Jake!” He cried, running and launching himself at the guy. Jeremy sat there, stunned enough that he didn’t even think to call out “no running” to Logan. Jake pretended to groan, but swung Logan up into the air, making the kid shriek with delight. Through his laughter, Logan added, “I didn’t know you were picking me up today!”

“Yeah, your dad got held up at work,” Jake said, setting Logan back on the ground gently. He ruffled Logan’s hair. “Thought we could go for ice cream or something. Just don’t tell your dad, okay?” He tapped his index finger to his lips in the universal ‘shhh’ motion. Logan mimicked it, beaming.

“You gotta see the room!” He gasped, latching onto Jake’s hand and dragging him towards the cubbies. “Mr. Heere is awesome at decorating! Right here’s my cubby, right under the pumpkin…”

Jake was handsome in a way that pissed Jeremy off to no end. His dirty blond hair was perfectly styled and he looked like he had just walked off a magazine cover. He followed Logan around the room easily, a smile on his face the whole time. 

Jeremy tried to ignore the jealousy that twisted like a knife in his gut. Who was this guy, anyway? Was he- could he be-? No. Jeremy cut off that train of thought before it could even fully form. He had no right to wonder whether or not Michael was dating this loser. This perfect, handsome, good-with-kids loser.

It wasn’t his business. 

Jeremy pulled out his binder full of emergency contacts for the kids in his class. Each child had a form their parents had to fill out, and part of that form dictated who was allowed to pick their kids up from school (grandparents, aunts, family friends, etc). Jeremy had to check it every once in a while to make sure the uncle picking up his nephew was actually allowed to.

Jeremy flipped to Logan’s page and frowned. _Jake Dillinger_ was written neatly on the list, just behind Alina and Stacy Mell. God, this guy was Michael’s first pick after his parents?

No! No, Jeremy, this isn’t your business. 

Jeremy had no right to be jealous. He wasn’t Michael’s boyfriend.

With more attitude than he needed to, Jeremy flipped the binder shut and shoved it back into its rightful place in the drawer. He noticed Logan pulling Jake over to Jeremy’s desk just early enough to school his face into a more pleasant (but very, very fake) expression.

“Mr. Heere! This is my friend, Jake. Jake, this is Mr. Heere, my teacher.” Logan pulled Jake so he was close to the desk. He laughed a little and gave Jeremy a wave.

“I can see that. Hey, Mr. Heere.”

“Hello,” Jeremy said shortly. “It’s nice to meet you.” No, it’s not.

“Uh,” Jake patted his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. “Do you need to see my ID? So I can take Logan?”

“Why would he have to see that?” Logan asked. “You’ve picked me up loads of times.”

“Not this year, buddy. Mr. Heere doesn’t know me yet,” Jake explained patiently. He showed Jeremy his ID (he was, in fact, The Jake Dillinger) before slipping it and his wallet back where they belongs.

“He coulda asked Mrs. Lohst,” Logan insisted.

“That would have taken more time, though.”

“Oh.”

Jeremy hated how good Jake was with Logan. And then he hated that he hated it. It was all circling in his head, confusing and irritating. He did his best to keep a smile on his face, though it may have looked more like a grimace than anything. He looked back up at Jake.

Jake seemed to be- checking him out? No, that wasn’t it. The look on his face was more clinical than that. It was almost like Jeremy was a specimen he was examining.

“So, ice cream?” Logan asked after a quiet moment, tugging on Jake’s arm. Jake broke his stare to look down at the kid. 

“Ice cream it is! You got all your stuff?” Logan nodded, pulling on his backpack straps as proof. Jake ruffled his hair again, and Logan made a face, but didn’t try to fix it. Jeremy guessed he was used to it by now. “Alright, well, why don’t you say goodbye, then?”

“Bye, Mr. Heere! I’ll see you tomorrow.” Logan waved wildly before running to the door.

“Walk, Logan!” Jeremy said quickly, jumping to his feet. His paint-dried pants chafed on his skin and he sat back down quickly, hoping Jake hadn’t noticed the red smear. “And bye!”

Jake sighed affectionately, shaking his head at Logan, who immediately slowed down comically as he made his way to the door. He walked in slow-mo with exaggerated movements, earning himself a few laughs from the few classmates that were still in the room.

“God, he’ll be even worse after the ice cream,” Jake said lightly. “I’d better get going, though, or he’ll complain the whole way.”

“Bye, then,” Jeremy said, looking back down at the papers on his desk. They’d had a spelling test today, and he could already tell it hadn’t gone well.

“Bye,” Jake said. He only took half a step before turning back and adding carelessly, “Michael and I are just friends, by the way.”

He didn’t stay to listen to Jeremy’s indignant splutters, explaining how that _really wasn’t any of Jeremy’s business anyway so what does it matter-_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly love Jealous!Jeremy, okay :p
> 
> Also, this seems really short, but I swear it's not??? It looks shorter than it is I swear. And sorry it cuts off a little weird, I couldn't figure a better way to end the chapter, so...... yeah. Hope you all enjoyed!


	8. Chapter 8

Jeremy made the tactical move to wait until the very end of the day to announce the field trip. He knew that if he mentioned it any earlier, the kids would have been done for and no more learning would have gotten done all day. He’d printed the permission slips off during lunch (the teacher’s lounge had the only copy machine in the school due to budget cuts) and kept them neatly tucked in a drawer until it was just about time for their daily arts and crafts. 

Jeremy had been planning this field trip since he first found out he got the job, way back in July. He’d always loved going on field trips as a kid, so he wanted to make sure he thought of some good ones for his students. And if it went well, this could become a yearly thing.

So, of course, Jeremy had to be a nerd and choose a field trip he wished he’d been able to go on as a kid. He was probably going to be just as excited as the kids, if not more so. 

“So, everyone, I have an announcement to make!” Jeremy called everyone to attention. The pre-arts-and-crafts chatter died down as he waited for everyone’s attention. Ryan kept talking to Kyle, though Kyle was looking at Jeremy and trying very hard not to pay attention to him. Eyebrows raised, Jeremy walked over until he caught Ryan’s attention. Ryan fell silent, at least looking sheepish. “Thank you. Now, as I was saying, we are going to be going on a field trip-”

The room erupted into chaos. Jeremy couldn’t get a word in edgewise as the kids freaked out over the possibility of a field trip. Kids were shouting, running out of their seats to get to their friends across the room, pushing each other as they talked.

“If you don’t let me hand out the permission slips, then we can’t go!” That shut them up pretty quick. Jeremy was a little proud of that. He held up the pile of permission slips (printed on blue paper) for the students to see. “Alright, everyone back to your seats. No talking until I pass these out, or else I’ll call the whole thing off.” 

Jeremy could tell the kids thought that was unfair, but they weren’t about to complain and lose their field trip (not that Jeremy would _actually_ cancel it). Satisfied, Jeremy started passing the slips out one by one as he told the kids about their trip to the planetarium.

As he gave Logan, Kelsea, and Genevieve their permission slips, he added, “Don’t forget to see if your parents want to chaperone! I need at least four parents to come along. These are due on Friday, or else you can’t go. Okay?”

The room was silent.

“You guys can talk now.”

“Okay!” The kids all shouted back in unison. Jeremy smiled as the room became lively and loud. Arts and crafts times was basically over at that point, so they mostly just started getting ready to go home. Jeremy had a few extra permission slips from the kids who were absent, so he went to his desk. He wrote their names on top of the forms and set them on his keyboard so he would remember to give them out tomorrow.

Quite a few kids turned in their permission slips before leaving that day, which was nice. Jeremy had a folder ready to go for the forms and filed them away. He frowned after Lucy handed him her form and skipped away. Mrs. Greene had signed up to be a chaperone. Silently, he prayed that four other parents would sign up and he could pick them over her. Anyone but Mrs. Greene.

“But, Dad, you gotta!” Jeremy instinctively looked up when he heard Logan whining. He saw Logan practically hanging on Michael’s arm, swinging back and forth. Michael’s eyebrows were furrowed and he was reading the permission form.

“I don’t know if it’s a good idea, bud,” he said as he read.

“But you always go on field trips!”

Oh, no.

Pasting a fake smile on his face, Jeremy accepted Kelsea’s permission slip as she stepped in front of him. “Great! I’m so glad you’re gonna come, Kelsea.”

“I love planets,” she replied very seriously, looking at Jeremy over the top of her glasses.

“Me too,” Jeremy said, as if he were imparting a great secret. Kelsea looked pleased at that.

“Mr. Heere!” Logan was still whining, but now was dragging Michael over to Jeremy’s desk. Oh, boy. Jeremy sat up a little straighter and suddenly had the urge to fix his tie, except he wasn’t wearing one. Still, he’d already started moving his hand, so he just tugged at his collar instead. Then he cringed when he realized that made him look nervous. (Which, you know, he _was_. But he didn’t want Michael to know that!)

Michael looked like he wished he were anywhere else on the face of the planet. It kind of made Jeremy feel awful.

“Mr. Heere,” Logan repeated once he’d stopped dragging his father. “You gotta tell my dad to chaperone the trip! He always comes on field trips. Always.”

“That’s really your dad’s decision-” Jeremy started, but Logan gave him the Look. The puppy-dog eyes and the lower lip pushing out. Jeremy faltered.

“Oh, don’t give him that look.” Michael looked less than impressed by Logan’s pout.

“You can even ask Mrs. Lohst- Dad’s a great chaperone! You gotta make him come, Mr. Heere. You _gotta_.” Logan grabbed Jeremy’s arm and pulled, much in the same way he’d done to Michael.

“Logan, I don’t even know if I’d be able to get off work,” Michael invented, scratching behind his ear. He looked really uncomfortable, which made Jeremy’s stomach twist painfully.

Logan continued to give Jeremy that pitiful expression, just begging for Jeremy to back him up. Jeremy’s heart squeezed and he sighed.

“If you can, I’d love to have you chaperone,” Jeremy said, meeting Logan’s gaze to keep himself from looking up at Michael. The stunned pause shook him, though, and he looked up. Michael looked- confused? Guarded? Jeremy couldn’t figure it out, but he hurried to add, “Lucy’s mom is the only one who’s signed up to chaperone so far and I definitely need more help than that. So, you know, if you want.”

Jeremy’s throat felt dry.

Logan smiled smugly up at his dad, as if that solved everything. Michael carefully schooled his expression and said, “I’ll see if I can get the day off, then.” Logan finally released Jeremy’s arm, cheering.

Jeremy managed to wait until the classroom had emptied completely to slump back into his chair and groan. He was so, so fucked.

—

“Yeah, I’m gonna have to pass on that,” Jeremy said lightly. Rich gasped, acting offended that Jeremy had turned down a chance to go to a bar with him and Dustin. “I’d rather not third-wheel all night, thanks.”

“We could find you someone,” Rich said easily. He wasn’t carrying a bag home, which made Jeremy wonder when and how he got his grading done. His grading had to be harder than Jeremy’s was (fifth grade had much more work than second), yet Jeremy never saw Rich carrying papers to grade. Jeremy often felt like he was drowning in spelling tests and math worksheets. “What’s your type, anyway? Is it exclusively hot single dads you’re not allowed to date?”

Jeremy glared at Rich, who just raised his eyebrows innocently.

“Shut up,” Jeremy muttered, adjusting the strap of his messenger bag. He honestly hated messenger bags, but this one had been a graduation gift from his father. (“All teachers use these,” his dad had insisted.) It was a really nice faux leather one, but Jeremy hated how it put all the weight on just one shoulder. It was a constant pain, literally.

“For real, though, you should come,” Rich said sincerely. Jeremy smiled a little, kind of touched that Rich genuinely enjoyed his company. Jeremy didn’t make friends easily, so it was always a shock and a delight when he managed to make one. Still, he shook his head.

“I have grading to do.”

“So do I. Come anyway.” He made it seem so simple, so easy, but there was too much swimming in Jeremy’s head right now.

Jeremy sighed loudly. They’d made it to his car, so he fished out his keys and unlocked the door. He opened it and turned to Rich, who was leaning against the backseat’s door. “Not today.”

“What happened?” Rich asked. Jeremy paused. He hadn’t pegged Rich for the observant type.

“Nothing,” Jeremy lied. He tossed his bag into the car, watching it bounce on the passenger seat. He hoped Rich would drop it and just buy the lie. But, as the universe loved to remind him, Jeremy was just not that lucky.

“Bullshit.” Rich actually looked concerned. Again, Jeremy couldn’t help but feel happy that he’d successfully become friends with Rich. Real friends, not just work friends.

Jeremy hesitated, looking at his feet, then said, “My class is going on a field trip next week. To the planetarium.” Rich scoffed, rolling his eyes.

“That place is for geeks,” he said. Jeremy made a noise of discontent.

“I love planetariums!” He retorted, crossing his arms. Rich raised his eyebrows, looking his up and down.

“You’re kinda proving my point, dude.” Jeremy rolled his eyes.

“Oh, shut up.”

“So, what’s the deal, then? Shouldn’t you be all excited to look at pictures of stars and shit?” Jeremy blinked owlishly, momentarily distracted.

“Have- have you never been to a planetarium? Because that’s not at all what it’s like.” Rich shrugged and shook his head.

“I dunno. I’m not a geek, so…” He snickered at the look on Jeremy’s face. “Seriously, though. What’s the issue?”

“I think Michael is gonna come as a chaperone.” There was a pause and then Rich’s eyes lit up, which worried Jeremy. 

“What did I tell you?” He crowed, pushing off the car. “Sneaking around on field trips would be so hot!” He snapped his fingers, pointing resolutely at Jeremy. “You two are totally gonna fool around.” Jeremy’s cheeks burned.

“We are not going to fool around,” he insisted. He ran a hand through his hair. “There’s too much at stake. And anyway, there will be about twenty-five kids there and I’ll be in charge.”

Rich, though, was not persuaded. He acted as if Jeremy hadn’t said anything and continued on. “I bet you fifty bucks that the two of you fool around at the planetarium.”

“I’m not betting you on anything!”

“‘Cause you know you’ll lose?” Rich wagged his eyebrows suggestively. He held out a hand, wiggling his fingers, as well. Irritated, Jeremy shook his hand, sealing the bet. “Nice. I can’t wait to be fifty bucks richer.”

Jeremy opened his mouth to deny the claim, but Rich just winked at him. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then, Jer! Better get that fifty bucks ready for me.”

“I’m not- You’re not gonna get- We’re not gonna do anything!” Jeremy called after him, but Rich just waved a hand lazily as he strolled over to his own car. He climbed inside and drove away, honking twice at Jeremy as he drove past.

Jeremy sighed once more and climbed into his car. Once he was buckled and the car was on, Jeremy slumped forward. His forehead pressed on the horn and he jumped up.

“Fuck me,” he muttered to himself.

He hoped Michael would decide not to go on the field trip. Then, he hoped that he would. No. No, it would be easier if Michael didn’t go.

—

Jeremy ended up getting five parents to volunteer to chaperone, though he only needed four. He looked over the list: Mrs. Greene, Michael, Mrs. Riera, Mr. Kavinsky, and Genevieve’s Aunt Helen.

He chewed on his lip, knowing that he should tell Michael that he wasn’t needed on the trip. That was the good, responsible thing to do.

So, of course, he ended up telling Mrs. Greene that, unfortunately, there was no room for her on the trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter may be more setup than anything, but it was important! I promise. I hope you all enjoyed it anyways! Please feel free to leave a comment telling me what you thought and maybe even leave some kudos??
> 
> You guys are the best!


	9. Chapter 9

Jeremy was already regretting organizing the field trip and they hadn’t even gotten on the bus yet. The kids had shown up outside the classroom earlier than usual, excited for the trip. Three students had already been in the hallway when Jeremy showed up, for Pete’s sake! While he, too, was excited for the field trip and a break from the monotony of the school year, he already knew this was going to be a lot more than he’d bargained for.

Mrs. Riera and Mr. Kavinsky were already here, as well. There was still about fifteen minutes until the bus was supposed to arrive. Jeremy checked his watch again, though the numbers hadn’t changed at all. The room was utter chaos and he allowed it to be so. There was no point in wasting energy trying to rally them, at least not until he needed to. He could already tell that this was going to be a long day.

There was a gentle tug on the hem of Jeremy’s PLANETS ARE COOL T-shirt that he’d broken out from high school ( _how_ was he still so scrawny that it fit?). He looked down to see Ellie, with her dark hair and big eyes, looking up at him. Automatically, he knelt so he was eye-level with her. He knew that made her feel more comfortable talking to him.

“What’s up, Ellie?” He asked as he balanced on the balls of his feet. Ellie looked shy, as she always did, but Jeremy was starting to notice her come out of her shell a bit. Not a lot, and not when other kids were paying attention to her, but still. It was something.

“Mr. Heere?” She asked softly, her voice wobbling. “Can I sit with you on the bus?”

“You don’t want to sit with your dad?” Jeremy asked, confused. Mr. Kavinsky was on the trip— did something happen? Why wouldn’t she want to sit with her father? Ellie looked upset. She was clutching her purple jacket like a safety blanket, her grip hard and holding it close to her chest.

“Daddy said I should sit with my friends,” Ellie murmured. She waited to see if Jeremy understood what she meant. Jeremy thought about it, but he couldn’t see the problem. She went on, “Kelsea and Genevieve are sitting together already. You can only sit two people on a seat.”

Oh. Poor Ellie was so shy that Kelsea and Genevieve were her only friends in the class, and they’d picked each other over her. Jeremy’s heart ached for her more and more as her eyes filled with tears.

Jeremy scratched his head, trying to think of a way to fix this. How sad would it be to have to sit with the teacher on a trip because you had no one else to sit with? How sad was it that Ellie would rather sit with her teacher than admit to her dad that she had no one to sit with?

Jeremy’s gaze landed on Logan as he practically dragged Michael into the classroom. Logan looked like he was absolutely buzzing, as if Michael had already filled him with sugar at eight o’clock in the morning. He looked excited and happy and ready for the trip.

Possibly for the first time ever, Jeremy was happier to see Logan than he was to see Michael.

“Logan,” Jeremy said brightly, catching the boy’s attention. “Logan, wouldn’t you like to sit with Ellie on the bus today?” Ellie tensed beside him, which made Jeremy feel kind of awful. But it would be better for her to sit with a classmate than her teacher, he knew.

Logan opened his mouth, most likely about to say that he had already promised to sit with Ryan or Kyle or one of the other boys in class, but shut it after a moment. He seemed to contemplate something, looking from Jeremy to Ellie. Finally, he nodded and gave a toothy grin.

“That sounds fun! Ellie, do you wanna see my drawings? My nana and I drew stars and planets all last night,” Logan said, grabbing onto Ellie’s hand. Ellie looked absolutely delighted and followed him to a nearby desk. She actually looked quite interested to see Logan’s drawings, though Jeremy knew they would be nothing more than colored circles and five-point stars. (Logan had already given Jeremy at least four similar drawings in the week since the field trip had been announced.)

Jeremy stood straight and realized just then that he was (sort of) alone with Michael now.

“Uh, hi,” he said lamely, trying not to blush as he finally acknowledged Michael. It was hard, though, considering how good Michael looked. Jeremy had never seen him wear anything than a nice button up shirt, tie, and dress slacks, as he’d always come straight from work. But today, Michael was dressed casually. He was wearing a black T-shirt with a Galaga Bumblebee printed on the front. He wore jeans and comfortable shoes and— _damn!_ His hair wasn’t styled like it usually was. It was fluffy and free of product, flopping down over his forehead loosely, only confined by a headband around his forehead.

“Hey,” Michael replied, smiling a little. It was a bittersweet smile and Jeremy couldn’t help but return it, feeling just the same. All the awkwardness was very present, and yet so was the pull that Jeremy always felt when Michael was around. “That was impressive.”

Jeremy blinked owlishly. “What was?”

Michael nodded towards Logan and Ellie, stuffing his hands in his pockets. Jeremy’d started to notice that he did that when he was nervous, or overwhelmed. “Logan was going on and on about how he, Ryan, Kyle, and Liam were all going to sit by each other. Yet one word from you and he agrees to sit with her with no complaint? It’s impressive.” 

Jeremy shrugged, feeling a little sheepish. “I didn’t really do anything. I’m just glad he agreed to it— I don’t know what I would have done if he’d said no right in front of her.”

“If I’d asked, he would have said no.”

“No, I don’t think so. He’s a good kid.” Michael’s smile turned more genuine at that, like it always did when someone complimented Logan. Jeremy could tell that kid was the light of Michael’s life. He always looked so happy when he talked about him.

They stood in silence for a moment, but it was comfortable. Jeremy could almost pretend the last few weeks of awkwardness had never happened. He could almost pretend that he could hold Michael’s hand, hug him (maybe even kiss him if they weren’t in a room full of kids).

And then, like a flash, he was being pulled by his reverie as the kids screeched and hollered. They’d spotted the bus pulling up in front of the school. Jeremy went right back into Teacher Mode, clapping his hands loudly and calling everyone to order. He figured some of the kids were still afraid Jeremy would cancel the field trip at the last second, because they all listened and quieted right away.

“Alright everyone, we know the rules for the field trip, right? No wandering off, you listen to what our guide has to say. You obey _all_ of our chaperones,” Jeremy said, gesturing to the parents, who had sort of grouped up behind him. “If I hear complaints about any of you from them, you’ll be sitting out during recess for the rest of the week.” Some of the kids whined at that, but Jeremy ignored them.

He did a headcount and found that all the kids who had signed up for the field trip were present and ready to go. Everyone lined up at the door and they filed out of the building and onto the bus.

Jeremy found that he had no chance to relax at all on the bus ride to the planetarium. The kids would barely stay in their seats, all too excited to be going somewhere (anywhere) that wasn’t school. It didn’t help that the bus ride was an hour long, either. The kids started to get antsy about twenty minutes in. Jeremy was already exhausted from walking up and down the aisle, pushing gently on shoulders to keep everyone safely in their seats. The only kids he didn’t have a problem with was Logan and Ellie, who seemed very absorbed in their drawings. They shared the notebook Logan had brought in his backpack, both drawing on half of the page. Jeremy smiled at them, though they didn’t notice.

Jeremy made his way back to the front and plopped down in the first row of the bus. Michael was sitting across the aisle, his back against the wall so he was facing Jeremy. Jeremy sighed, but sat the same way so they were mirroring each other. They made eye contact for just a moment before Michael dropped his gaze to his phone.

Jeremy sat there, trying not to stare at Michael (but failing miserably— the guy was just too good-looking and Jeremy was so, so weak). It only lasted a moment, though. The din of the students growing more and more restless grew. Jeremy sighed. They still had a good thirty-five minutes until they would arrive at the planetarium and he had no idea how to keep them occupied. In hindsight, he should have asked Brooke and Rich for tips.

Jeremy stood back up, clapping rhythmically. 1, 2, 1, 2, 3. Automatically, the kids repeated it and looked to him. “Okay, everyone, it’s getting a little noisy in here.”

“How much longer until we’re there?” Ryan shouted from the back. Jeremy sighed, doing his best not to get annoyed.

“About half an hour,” he replied. He was met with groans from just about everyone, including the chaperones up front. Mrs. Riera looked exhausted already. Jeremy’s shoulders slumped. He racked his brain for something to do.

“How about we play a game?” Michael asked, hopping to his feet. He grinned as the kids cheered in agreement, leaning on the back of his seat. “How about Simon Says? Everyone, come on, stand up.”

Giggling to themselves, no one stood up. Michael looked confused for a second, then he rolled his eyes. 

“Oh my god, okay, _Simon says_ stand up.” Almost as a unit, the kids all rose to their feet. Jeremy wasn’t super happy about them standing on the bus like this, but if it would keep them occupied and content, he would take it. He knelt on his seat so he could watch the game unfold, though he found his gaze kept going back to Michael.

Michael was so good with the kids. Simon Says was, quite frankly, a boring game, but he kept it interesting and made sure even the kids who lost weren’t bored either. He was a natural at this. Jeremy was so, genuinely happy that Michael had come (for once, not just for selfish reasons).

“Simon says… touch your nose!”

“Jump up and down- ah! You two are out.”

“Come on, guys, it’s only fair. We’ll start a new round soon.”

“I dunno, what do you think, Lacey? Do you think Ryan’s out?”

Jeremy was almost disappointed when they pulled up to the planetarium. Almost. He got of the bus first and helped each of his students off, making sure they didn’t go far until the whole group was out and ready to go. The bus pulled away; it would be back for them in a few hours.

The planetarium was huge, larger than any Jeremy had ever been. He tried not to look so in awe over everything, but it was difficult to mask his enjoyment. The kids ‘oohed’ and ‘ahhed’ at all the right moments before the tour guide even caught up with them.

There were models of the solar system and other planets on display for the kids to look at, and even a room where they could quite literally walk among the stars. Jeremy, for the most part, let them have their fun. He and the other chaperones just made sure the kids were being polite, didn’t run, and didn’t break anything.

Jeremy’s phone buzzed and he dug it out of his pocket. It was a text from Rich.

**Rich Goranski** : soooo how’s the field trip? anything……. interesting happen yet ;)

Jeremy rolled his eyes, blushing (which annoyed him even more), and typed out a quick response.

**Me** : no!! nothing is gonna happen, now go back to teaching ur class

He shoved his phone back into his pocket without waiting for a reply. He hated how flustered he got over one stupid little message. Nothing was going to happen. It couldn’t.

“Everything okay?” Jeremy nearly jumped out of his skin when Michael’s voice appeared seemingly out of nowhere next to him. Jeremy stumbled a little and Michael grabbed him by the shoulder to keep him upright. “Whoa, sorry, I didn’t mean-”

“I’m fine!” Jeremy squeaked quickly. “Totally fine. I just— scare easily?”

“Uh, okay,” Michael said uncertainly. After an awkward moment, he realized he still had a hand on Jeremy’s shoulder and dropped it. “I’ll, uh, go make sure no one’s running in the hall.” He ducked out of the room before Jeremy could say anything.

He sighed. Just a few more hours. They could make it through a few more hours. Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because is it a true #haelpack story if there's no texting???
> 
> But anyways, thanks so much for your continued support on this story!! I truly, truly appreciate every single comment and kudos, so please keep it up! It makes my day every single time.


	10. Chapter 10

The kids were most eager to get into the actual planetarium- the large dome screen that would show them all the stars and planets. After they’d exhausted all the other exhibits, their tour guide (a young woman named Elizabeth, according to her name tag) led them into the theater. The kids fought and argued over who would sit where and Jeremy almost intervened, but between Mrs. Riera and Genevieve’s Aunt Helen, it was settled without him, which was nice.

The kids settled down as the lights dimmed, taking up the first two and a half rows of the rather large theater. Jeremy and the chaperones sat close to the exit, giving the kids a little space but still close enough to keep an eye on them. Jeremy sat on the aisle seat. He pretended to not notice Michael sitting just across the aisle, within arms reach.

He did his best to pay attention, looking up at the ceiling as it lit up with stars. It was stunning, to say the least. Tons of stars twinkled, looking as real as they would outside. The narrator of the program’s voice spoke above all of the kids’ “Oohs” and “Ahhs”, explaining that this is what the sky would look like with no pollution in the sky.

Jeremy, as much as he’d wanted to listen to the program and had looked forward to this, tuned it all out. He stared up at the stars, catching sight of a shooting star darting across the sky. A couple of the kids cried out, having spotted it as well.

Jeremy glanced over at Michael. He was staring up at the stars, his expression neutral enough that Jeremy had no idea _what_ he was thinking. His arm was resting on the armrest and it was all Jeremy could do not to read across the small aisle and grab onto Michael’s hand. It would be so easy—

Jeremy jerked his head back up, feeling heat pool in his cheeks. 

It really was romantic in there, wasn’t it? Jeremy could almost understand Ross bringing Rachel to a planetarium for their first date now. The stars looked so real, you could almost believe you were in the middle of nowhere and just looking up at the universe. Jeremy rubbed the back of his neck and tried to tune into the program, to actually hear what was being said. He’d been planning to lead a discussion about the field trip when they returned to the school (they’d have about an hour or so before school ended for the day), so it would be good if he actually knew what they were learning about, given that he was the teacher and all.

God, was it hot in there, or was it just him? Jeremy felt like he was suffocating under the twinkling starlight above. Did they already have the heat on or something?

Without thinking— without being able to think—, he got up and bolted to the back of the theater. Luckily for him, the scene on the screen changed to a close up of Earth, which was slightly brighter and made it less noticeable when he opened the door and slipped out of the room.

It was startlingly brighter out in the lobby, but a lot cooler. Jeremy gently shut the door behind him and slumped against the wall, groaning softly.

“Sir?” Jeremy looked up to see the tour guide (what was her name?) looking at him from the desk. She looked— not quite _concerned_ , but something close, but a bit more professional. “If everything alright?”

Jeremy nodded, though everything was about as far from ‘alright’ as it could be. “Yeah, I just need some air.”

She nodded, as if this happened quite a lot. “Feel free to step outside if you need. I could get you some water?”

“No, no, that’s fine. I’ll— I’ll be fine.” She accepted that answer (thank god) and returned to whatever work she was doing. What sort of work did a tour guide have when she didn’t have a tour to guide? Jeremy didn’t give it much thought.

The building around the theater was curved, the outer wall lined with large windows. Jeremy walked down the hall, looking outside as he went. It wasn’t long before the tour guide’s desk was out of view. There was a bench along the wall and Jeremy took a seat, taking a deep breath. He buried his face in his hands, slumping of shoulders and leaning on his knees.

He’d made a mistake, bringing Michael on the trip as a chaperone. He’d made so many mistakes, but that was the most recent one. Jeremy couldn’t keep doing this. This— this _pining_ was hard, it hurt, and it was just making him miserable. Maybe he should just let Brooke set him up with one of her friends, maybe that would help him move on. Maybe he could finally get Michael out of his head for good.

“Jeremy? Are you okay?”

… Was this some sort of sign from the universe? Was this some deity (God or whoever else) just fucking with him? He couldn’t be sure. But slowly, Jeremy raised his head to see Michael (of course he was there, when wasn’t he there right when Jeremy was weakest?) standing next to him, looking concerned. His hand was reaching out, like he was going to place it on Jeremy’s shoulder, but couldn’t decide if that was a good idea or not.

Jeremy’s stomach twisted eve more. He _cared_. Michael cared so much and that made it so much harder, made it so much more tragic. Jeremy wasn’t just hurting himself, he was hurting Michael. And that was the last thing he wanted to do.

“No,” he said, being honest for once. “No, I’m not.”

Michael seemed at a loss for words, like he hadn’t expected Jeremy to be honest with him. He’d probably prepared some speech about how he “can tell something’s bothering you, so just let it out, man” or something.

“Is there anything I can do?” Michael asked after a moment. He let his hand fall to his side and Jeremy was again struck with the urge to grab it. Jeremy shook his head, standing. He stared out the window and into the parking lot, though there really wasn’t anything to see. The backwoods of New Jersey weren’t all that exciting or pretty to look at.

“I don’t think so,” he said finally.

“Jeremy-”

“Michael, I’m sorry.” Jeremy wouldn’t look at him. He couldn’t let himself look. 

“Sorry? For what?” Michael stepped in front of him. He reached out and caught Jeremy’s hand in his own. “You haven’t done anything.”

Jeremy shook his head, but now that he was looking at Michael, he found that he couldn’t look away. He was illuminated from behind, looking downright angelic. Jeremy didn’t even believe in angels, but if anyone on this planet was one, it was Michael.

“I’m making this a hell of a lot harder than it needs to be,” Jeremy explained. He knew he should let go of Michael’s hand. He held on tighter. He looked down, marveling quietly at how their hands linked together. He wanted to hold on forever.

“Hey,” Michael said seriously. He held onto Jeremy’s chin gently and nudged so Jeremy would meet his eyes. “This is a two player game, okay? I’m just as much at fault as you are.”

A two player game. Jeremy liked the sound of that. He liked the idea of it being them against the world, side by side.

If Jeremy were to place the blame for what happened next, he would say it was a combination of Michael’s sweet words, his amazing dark eyes, and Jeremy’s utter lack of self control. But the next thing Jeremy knew, he was tugging Michael into a janitor’s closet like they were horny teenagers, shutting the door firmly with them inside.

There was something so freeing about the absolute privacy the closet provided. Michael grabbed Jeremy, pulling him in so fast that it made Jeremy’s head spin. Their kiss was different than before. Before, it had been sad, more of a goodbye to what could have been than anything else. This kiss, though— this one was _electric_. It was hard and desperate and needy as all hell. Jeremy clung to Michael with all the strength he could muster, as if Michael would vanish if given the chance.

Michael’s hands couldn’t stay still. They seemed to be everywhere all at once, touching and exploring as Michael pinned Jeremy hard against the door. Jeremy felt like his head was spinning, but in the best way possible. Everything was Michael right then— just the man whose body was pressed against his. Nothing else mattered in the universe. For all Jeremy cared, the rest of the world could disappear for good and he would be quite content, thank you very much.

Time seemed to stand still, or else fly by way too fast. Michael pulled away all too soon, shushing Jeremy softly when he whined.

“I think the program’s done,” Michael whispered. It took Jeremy a minute to come back to his senses and understand what Michael meant.

There were a ton of little voices filling the hallway. Jeremy could hear students talking about the stars and arguing over whether Jupiter or Mars was the cooler planet. He even heard a small voice ask, “Where’s Mr. Heere?”

“Fuck.”

Michael stood back as far as he could in the small closet. It really wasn’t very far at all, maybe just a foot, but it felt like a mile. Jeremy suddenly felt ice cold where he had just been pleasantly hot. He did his best not to sigh longingly. He did his best not to say “fuck it” and kiss Michael senseless once more.

Jeremy turned his head, listening. “I don’t think they’re this far down the hall,” he said after a moment. He thought quickly. If no one had wandered this way yet, they could slip out without anyone knowing they’d been in a closet. Together.

Jeremy opened the door before Michael could argue and poked his head out. He breathed a sigh of relief; no one was out there yet. He thanked the lord for the curve of the building and exited the closet.

Jeremy’s hand pulled out of Michael’s as he walked towards the students and he did all he could not to look over at him.

“So how was all that?” Jeremy asked loudly, garnering everyone’s attention. The students turned to stare at him, eyes wide.

“Space is huge!” Lacey cried out in awe.

“It is,” Jeremy agreed. He checked his phone. “And the bus should be here any minute now to pick us up. We can talk more about it when we get back to school.”

There was a collective groan.

“Do we have to go back?” Logan asked. He was still standing near Ellie, which was nice. He gave Jeremy his puppy eyes, but Jeremy ignored them. 

“Yes, of course we have to go back. But, we’ll talk about how cool space is and it’ll be time to go home before you even know it,” he promised the group. Lucy tugged on his shirt.

“Did you know the sun is a star? And that Venus spins backwards?” She asked, sounding as if she were imparting great wisdom unto him. He faked amazement.

“You don’t say!”

Jeremy didn’t have time to think about the ache in his heart or what would (or could) happen next when it came to Michael. He ignored how his lips still tingled and his skin felt icy without Michael’s warmth and herded the kids outside to wait for the bus, making sure the kids thanked the tour guide for their trip.

Michael listened as Logan went on and on about the things he’d learned in the field trip, though he still met Jeremy’s eye while Jeremy did a head count. He tried to ignore how his stomach flipped.

It felt like a line had been crossed and it was too late to go back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'ALL I'VE BEEN SO EXCITED TO WRITE THIS CHAPTER EVER SINCE I OUTLINED THIS STORY OKAY so i hope it's not trash,,,,, this is definitely a turning point in the story though, so buckle your seatbelts!! the ride is just getting started


	11. Chapter 11

Jeremy wasn’t sure where Michael (or the other chaperones) went for the last hour of school before picking their kids up, but they were all back in the hallway promptly at three o’clock. The class’s discussion on their trip had been actually decent, which was surprising to Jeremy. The kids had actually had some insightful things to say.

It almost made him want to plan another field trip. But then he remembered getting hit in the back of the head by a flying shoe on the ride home and he thought— mm, better not.

When the bell rang, Jeremy called out his last goodbyes to the students and started clearing his desk. Mercifully, he didn’t have any worksheets or tests to grade, so he didn’t have to bring anything home that night. He just tidied up his mess (Jeremy was what you would call “an organized mess”) and waited for the kids to be picked up.

Michael met his eyes when he walked in. He was chewing his bottom lip, deep in thought. Jeremy flushed and dropped his gaze to his desk. Oops. He just crumpled all the papers in his hands. He tried to smooth them out, but to no avail. Oh, well. The kids could do their math assignment on crumpled paper.

Jeremy glanced back at Michael. Logan was dragging him around, chattering on and on about who-knows-what, but Michael looked less than patient. Still, he allowed his son to drag him back and forth between his cubby and his desk as he gathered his things to go home. Somehow, though they’d only actually been in class an hour, Logan had spread his things throughout the room.

Jeremy got sidetracked when Lucy Greene came up to his desk, claiming to have lost her book that she was reading for class.

“Which one was it?” Jeremy asked, getting up to help her look for it.

“Junie B. Jones,” she replied unhelpfully.

“Which one?” She shrugged. Jeremy did his best not to groan or roll his eyes. He went over to the in-class bookshelf and looked at the Junie B. Jones section (there were quite a few of them). “Lucy, do you remember which color it was?”

She tilted her head, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “Pink, I think.”

There were no pink Junie B. Jones books on the shelf, which would have made everything just too easy. Jeremy and Lucy walked in opposite directions, hunting down her book. Jeremy looked inside her desk to make sure she hadn’t forgotten to check there. No luck. He ran his hand through his hair and sighed.

“Do you need help, Mr. Heere?” Logan asked, tapping Jeremy lightly on the shoulder. He pushed his glasses up his nose as he looked up at Jeremy. “What are you looking for?”

Jeremy told him about Lucy’s book. “But you don’t have to help, Logan. It’s time to go home, anyway.”

“I’ll help,” Logan insisted. “Dad won’t mind. In fact, he can help, too! Dad! You gotta help us find a book, okay?” Logan grabbed Michael’s attention. He was sitting in Logan’s chair at his desk, looking at something on his phone. He looked distracted, antsy. His leg bounced up and down absently, only slowing when Logan called out to him.

Jeremy shook his head, thanked Logan for volunteering to help, and walked over to the cubbies to see if the book had gotten misplaced over there.

“Hey.” Jeremy jumped at Michael’s voice, knocking his head on a plastic lunchbox sticking out from a cubby. Rubbing his head, he whirled to look at Michael. Carefully, he placed a hand on Jeremy’s shoulder, helping him regain his balance. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s fine— I’m fine! It doesn’t even hurt,” Jeremy said quickly, dropping his hand. In all honesty, it hurt like a bitch, but he wasn’t going to say that. “Um, what’s up? Did you find the book?”

God, things were so awkward between them. Jeremy knew he should regret what he’d done— pulling Michael into that closet— but he couldn’t. He couldn’t regret something that incredible, even if th  
e memory alone already made him ache for more. Even if it was complicating his work life infinitely. If anything, he wanted to do it again. And again. And again.

Michael blinked, looking like he’d already forgotten that they were supposed to be searching for Lucy’s book. “Oh. No, I haven’t.” He started looking in the cubbies as well, though it was clear that he really didn’t know what he was looking for. Which was fair, considering Jeremy didn’t really know either. “I just thought— we need to talk, Jeremy. Somewhere where we can have a real discussion. Somewhere that’s not your classroom.”

Jeremy froze. He swallowed hard. He nodded, knowing he owed Michael this. They’d had The Talk with Jeremy in the lead and look where it had gotten them. Even if the thought of seeing Michael outside of school was (exciting, exhilarating) terrifying, he knew it was the right thing to do. They needed to sort this out once and for all.

“Right. You’re right,” he said, looking over at Michael. The tension between them seemed to thicken.

“Are you free tomorrow? Logan’s going to a sleepover birthday party, so I’m off dad duty all day.” Michael scratched behind his ear and both of them blushed at the implication. “We could go to dinner or—”

Mercifully, Michael’s proposition (which was sounding dangerously close to a date) was cut off by Lucy calling out from across the room. She was waving a _blue_ book in her hand.

“Mr. Heere! Mr. Heere, I found it!” She waved it even more so he could see the cover. “It was in my backpack.” She didn’t even look sheepish at that. Jeremy did his best not to roll his eyes.

“Great, Lucy. I’ll see you tomorrow, then.” She was already out the door, running up to her mother in the hallway. Logan made his way over to them, looking proud of himself.

“It was my idea to look in her book bag,” he informed the two of them smugly. “She didn’t even think to check.”

“That was very smart of you,” Jeremy said, smiling. “I should have thought of that.” Logan patted his arm consolingly.

“That’s okay. We can’t be smart all the time.”

“Logan!” Michael chided, looking more amused than upset. “That’s not how we talk to adults. Especially not Mr. Heere.” Logan looked offended.

“I wasn’t calling him dumb, I was just _saying_ that sometimes we don’t use our thinking caps when we should.”

“That doesn’t make it any better,” Michael said, shaking his head. “Go get your stuff so we can get going, okay?” Logan looked like he wanted to argue, but Michael raised his eyebrows and Logan seemed to know better. He went back to grab his backpack and lunchbox from his desk.

“So, tomorrow?” Michael asked quickly, while Logan couldn’t hear. Jeremy stuffed his hands in his pockets and nodded.

“I’ll text you,” he said. “I still have your number.” Michael flushed at that and smiled before heading off with Logan. Jeremy wondered if his heart was beating loud enough for everyone else to hear, or if it was just in his head.

The classroom was mostly empty by now. Kelsea was sitting patiently at her desk, all of her things packed and ready to go. Her mom ran late a lot of the time, so it wasn’t unusual that she was still there.

What _was_ unusual, though, was Rich leaning in Jeremy’s doorway with a sharklike grin on his face. He waggled his eyebrows at Jeremy.

“So I take it I won the bet?” He asked lightly. Fuck, Jeremy had forgotten all about that stupid bet he’d made with Rich! He clapped his hand over his face and groaned a little, hating himself even more. Rich whooped loudly, clapping his hands. “I knew it. Pay up, Heere!”

Jeremy glared at Rich and nodded towards Kelsea. She was quietly reading her copy of Katie Kazoo, but she could clearly hear them. Rich made a face; clearly he hadn’t noticed her when he’d come in. He’d been too distracted by how obvious Jeremy and Michael were being.

Jeremy went over to Kelsea’s desk, sitting on the one across the aisle from her. 

“Hey, Kelsea,” he said softly. She looked up at him with big eyes. “Did your mom say she was gonna be late today?”

“She said she’d try to be here on time,” she replied. “But maybe there’s traffic.”

“Yeah, maybe. Do you wanna play a game until she gets here?” She perked up at that, so Jeremy pulled down Candyland.

“Is he gonna play, too?” Kelsea asked shyly as she helped set up the board. Jeremy glanced over at Rich, eyebrows raised.

“Oh, nah, I gotta get going. I’ve got tests to grade,” Rich replied. “But this isn’t over, Heere. Miller’s, seven o’clock, alright?”

—

Jeremy arrived at the bar before Rich did and claimed a booth for the two of them. His leg bounced up and down anxiously as he waited. He pulled out his phone. He hadn’t saved Michael’s number when he’d first given it for fear that he’d actually use it. But once he’d gone home after Kelsea had finally been picked up (over an hour late, which was a whole other issue he needed to deal with), he’d dug out the slip of paper with Michael’s number and plugged it in.

He’d told Michael that he would text him. Now, he just needed to work up the courage to actually do it. He knew he was being stupid, that it shouldn’t be this hard to text someone, but he couldn’t help but feel nervous. Michael had mentioned dinner. Was it going to be like a date? Jeremy knew the answer was no (it _had_ to be no), but he also knew that he wanted it to be yes. He wanted to go on a date with Michael.

God, he was in so deep.

His fingers were hovering over the screen when Rich finally showed up. He slid into the booth easily after clapping Jeremy on the shoulder.

They just sort of stared at each other for a moment. Finally, Rich broke the silence.

“So, you gonna tell me about it or what?” He asked, grabbing a menu. Jeremy wondered how he didn’t have the menu memorized by now. He bite his bottom lip.

“I’m supposed to text him. Michael, I mean.”

“Obviously.”

“Because he says we need to talk about what happened.” Jeremy wrung his hands together, feeling more and more anxious.

“So, what exactly happened, anyway?” Rich asked. Jeremy gave him a look, as if he should already know this, and he just laughed and added, “Hey, I just wanna be sure I won that fifty dollars.”

Jeremy rubbed his eyes, feeling embarrassed to admit it out loud. “Wemadeoutinacloset,” he mumbled beneath his hands.

“Come again?”

“We made out in a closet, okay?!” Rich beamed, kicking Jeremy under the table excitedly.

“Jeremy, you dog! I knew it!” He looked far too pleased with himself. 

“But now he wants to talk about it,” Jeremy said. “He invited me to dinner.”

“What did I tell you? Date in secret, it’ll be fun. And hot.” The waitress finally came over to their table and they ordered hamburgers and fries. 

“I could lose my job.”

“You weren’t thinking about that when you pulled him into a closet today, now were you?” Rich had a point, but Jeremy didn’t want to admit it. “Look, it’s a shitty situation. It’s too bad that you can’t just switch the kid to another class, but it is what it is. You just gotta make the best of the situation. So screw him in secret and be professional in public. Just don’t tell Brooke.”

Ah, yes. Brooke. Jeremy had almost forgotten how Brooke had been ready to get him fired over this whole Michael situation.

“Do you think she’d really do it?” He asked Rich uncertainly.

“I don’t know. She’s a good friend, but she’s also a stickler for the rules. I wouldn’t risk it, if I were you.”

Jeremy played with his phone in his hands before finally pulling up Michael’s contact.

**Me** : hey, it’s jeremy. where did u wanna talk tmrw?

Michael replied almost instantly.

**Michael Mell** : hey, jeremy!! there’s a nice italian place downtown we could go to. i’ll send you the address

Yeah, that felt a little too much like a date, but Jeremy wasn’t going to complain. As Michael sent Jeremy the address of the restaurant, Jeremy fished a fifty out of his wallet and threw it across the table at Rich.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter was such a bitch to write, but i hope you enjoyed it!! we're full on into the plot now and i'm really excited for everything that's coming up. i can't wait for you all to read it. thank you all for all of your comments and kudos and for sticking with this story. it really means the world to me.


	12. Chapter 12

Jeremy couldn’t decide which shirt to wear to his non-date with Michael and he kind of felt like his entire world was falling apart. So, you know, today wasn’t going _great_ so far. He’d pulled every shirt out of his closet and laid them out on the bed, but he was coming to the realization that he didn’t really own any nice clothes that weren’t work clothes. And he didn’t want to go out to dinner with Michael looking like a _teacher_ , god forbid.

Rich was no help. Jeremy had texted him a few times, sending pictures of contenders and asking Rich’s opinion. But Rich just kept sending the same reply for everything Jeremy sent.

**Rich** : it’s just gonna end up on the floor anyway

Jeremy was really cursing the fact that he had no other friends to ask. He’d never really had friends in high school and his two friends that he’d stuck with in college had pretty much dropped him when he moved halfway across the country for work, so he was pretty much just stuck with Rich.

Or Brooke.

Jeremy sat down on his bed, right on top of a red button-up that he kind of hated, and pulled up Brooke’s contact information in his phone. He knew Brooke would be much more help than Rich, but she had made it very clear that she didn’t approve of the lines Jeremy was crossing. He wanted to believe she wouldn’t get him fired over something like this, but he still didn’t know her enough to know that for sure.

Before he could talk himself out of it, he sent her three pictures of shirts.

**Me** : if i’m going out w someone but it’s not rlly a date, which should i wear?

Brooke responded quite quickly, which helped ease Jeremy’s nerves a bit. Her response, however, did not.

**Brooke** : Are those your only options?

**Me** : that bad huh?

He took a few more pictures and sent them.

**Me** : i don’t rlly have anything else that isn’t work clothes

**Brooke** : And what time is your date?

**Me** : it’s NOT a date

**Brooke** : Uh-huh…

**Me** : 6

**Brooke** : Meet me at the Menlo Park Mall in an hour.

—

Jeremy sat at one of the tables in the food court, waiting for Brooke to show up. He’d barely known where the mall was and had gotten lost, but he’d still managed to get there within the hour. He’d sat at the only free table in the food court (it was a Saturday afternoon, after all) and played on his phone while he waited.

He hated shopping. Most of his clothes came from birthday and Hanukkah presents from his father or grandparents simply because Jeremy _hated_ shopping. And yet here he was, about to go clothes shopping with Brooke Lohst of all people. God, Jeremy had it bad for Michael. This was practically a new low.

“Jeremy! Come on, we don’t have all day.” Jeremy’s head snapped up to see Brooke calling him from across the room. She had a tall brunette standing by her side, an arm wrapped around her waist. Her wife, Chloe. Jeremy had only met Chloe a handful of times, which kind of made this whole situation even worse.

“Hey, guys,” Jeremy said as he hurried over to them. “Uh, thanks for helping me. I could’ve just worn something from home—”

“Uh, no you couldn’t have,” Chloe cut in quickly. She took a sip from her Starbucks cup and looked at him. “Not to be rude, but all of those shirts were atrocious. If you wanna impress your date, you gotta to better than that.”

“It’s not a date,” Jeremy said quickly, flushing. The women shared a look and rolled their eyes.

“If it’s not a date, then why do you care so much?” Brooke asked pointedly. Jeremy floundered for an answer.

“J-just because it’s not a date doesn’t mean I don’t want it to be,” he said, though he wasn’t sure he was making much sense. Both Brooke and Chloe ignored him and dragged him into the closest department store.

“Blue would look best on him,” Chloe decided as they walked to the men’s section. “Do you like dark blue or light blue better, Jeremy?”

“Uh, dark blue,” he answered. Brooke shook her head.

“What about a nice forest green, like this?” She held up a folded button down shirt that looked far too expensive for a piece of clothing. Jeremy must have made a face, because she pouted and put it back down.

“Green’s not a bad idea,” Chloe said distractedly, but she was still hunting through a pile of blue shirts. Jeremy just sort of awkwardly stood around, not really knowing what he was supposed to do.

The worst part was when they took him to the dressing rooms. Jeremy had to try on every shirt and tie combo Chloe and Brooke had picked out and model them for the girls. It took an obscenely long time to go through them all, but finally the three of them decided on a indigo button-up with a thin, black tie. (Which is to say that Chloe decided on it and the other two just agreed with her.) Brooke also made him buy a new pair of dress pants, but luckily she didn’t make him try them on.

“Thanks for this,” Jeremy said as they walked out to the parking lot. “You guys didn’t have to do all this.”

“No problem,” Chloe said. She dug her car keys out of her purse. “I’ll pull the car up.” She walked off and Jeremy made to head to his car, but Brooke stopped him.

“Hey,” she said gently, “I’m glad you came to me about this, you know?”

“Um, okay.” Jeremy really didn’t know what to say to that. Brooke rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“I’m serious. I’m happy you wanted my help and,” she took a breath, “I’m happy you’re moving on from Michael. Going on a date with someone else is the perfect way to move on. I’m proud of you.” Jeremy felt a lump in his throat and he looked down at his feet. He didn’t know if he was touched by what Brooke said or if he felt guilty for lying to her about it. Or both. It was probably both.

“Thanks, Brooke,” he said thickly. “I, uh, I should get going if I want to get ready before I meet him so…” Brooke nodded, smiling.

“Of course! You’ll have to tell me all about your _non_ -date, okay? If not tonight, then tomorrow!” Chloe pulled up in her car and Brooke climbed inside, blowing Jeremy a kiss before they drove off.

Jeremy groaned before heading off to his own car.

—

The Italian restaurant Michael had sent was… fancier than Jeremy had expected. A _lot_ fancier. Jeremy silently thanked Brooke and Chloe for forcing him to dress up more than he’d planned, because otherwise he would have been woefully underdressed.

He was so fucking nervous. He was sweating through his new shirt already. He knew that he was being stupid, that this wasn’t a real date, that he had no reason to be nervous— but he couldn’t help himself. Stomach twisting itself into knots, Jeremy walked inside the restaurant.

The lighting was dim, romantic. This was the kind of place you went on a really nice first date or an anniversary. The hostess led Jeremy over to the table Michael had reserved for them, though Michael wasn’t there yet. Great. Even more time to stew in his own anxiety.

Jeremy sipped at his glass of water and almost choked when Michael walked into the room. He looked breathtaking, utterly radiant in the romantic lighting. His face lit up when he saw Jeremy before turning shy, but he made his way over to the table easily. Jeremy stood, smiling weakly at him.

“Hey,” he said. To Jeremy’s surprise, Michael pulled him into a hug. Without even thinking, Jeremy hugged him back tightly.

“Hey,” Michael said back as they sat down in their seats. “You look… wow.” Jeremy blushed deeply, looking down at his shirt again.

“Thanks. I had help.” Michael chuckled.

“Me too. My mom— Stacy— had a field day helping me find something to wear.” Michael looked a little embarrassed, but it was cute. Jeremy beamed.

“Brooke— uh, Mrs. Lohst, I mean— and her wife literally dragged me around the mall for a good two hours to find this outfit, so you’d better appreciate it,” he joked. Michael made a show of looking him up and down.

“I will.” Jeremy blushed again.

“S-so, you wanted to talk?” He said, tugging at his collar a little. He wasn’t the best at tying ties, so they always ended up a little too tight. “Do you think—”

“Jeremy,” Michael started, cutting him off gently, “do you think we can just— enjoy this? For now? And maybe save all that for dessert?”

Jeremy swallowed. Michael wanted to pretend, even just for a little bit, that this could be real. He nodded.

“Yeah, I like that idea.” Michael grinned.

“Good.” He looked down at the menu. “My friend Jake says the alfredo here is amazing.” 

Jeremy settled back into his chair, looking down at his own menu. Everything looked so good, he had no idea where to even start.

It felt like a real date, Jeremy found. They ordered fancy salads and pasta they could hardly pronounce and ate together. Michael talked about his work and Jeremy talked about how hard it was to be so far away from home. Their waiter kept filling up their glasses with red wine, which Jeremy found that he actually really enjoyed.

He discovered that Michael was a few years older than him, though that wasn’t so surprising. He was surprised when Jeremy told him he was only twenty-two.

“I don’t know, I guess I just assumed you were older,” he said. Jeremy shrugged.

“It’s my first year teaching, though. I just graduated college.”

“Yeah, I guess I didn’t think about that.”

Jeremy was secretly thrilled when that wasn’t a huge deal.

Dessert came all too soon, and the end of their non-date was nigh. They both ordered the brownie, which came with a single scoop of vanilla ice cream.

“I really like you, Jeremy,” Michael said plainly after the waiter served their brownies. He made no move to touch his food. Jeremy met his eyes, nodding. God, Michael looked so _sad_.

“I like you, too. So much,” Jeremy said softly. He nudged Michael’s foot gently with his own.

“I wish I could just— I don’t know— transfer Logan to a different class,” Michael said, sounding a little bitter. “God, that sounds so selfish.”

“I feel the same way,” Jeremy said. “This rule is so stupid, I swear—” He broke off, stabbing his brownie with his fork in frustration.

“Hey, that brownie didn’t do anything to you,” Michael said in mock-seriousness, pointing at Jeremy with his own fork. Jeremy couldn’t help but smile, just a little, at that.

“This has been so nice,” he said after a moment of silence. Michael hummed in agreement.

They ate their brownies for a moment and Jeremy’s mind began to go into overdrive. Finally, he said, “Let’s do it, then.”

Michael blinked. “What?”

Jeremy took a deep breath, meeting Michael’s gaze. “We should date.”

“Jeremy,” Michael said slowly, “I thought the whole issue is that we _can’t_ date because of your job?”

“That’s only if the school finds out,” Jeremy said, raising his eyebrows. “What they don’t know can’t get me fired.” Hadn’t Rich been the one to suggest they date in secret? What if he wasn’t so crazy after all?

“That sounds like a bad idea,” Michael said, though he looked excited at the thought.

“It’s a terrible idea,” Jeremy agreed brightly.

“The worst,” Michael said. He hesitated before continuing, “If you want, we can talk more about what a terrible idea us dating in secret would be at my place? Logan’s at that birthday party for the night…” Jeremy’s eyes went wide and he nodded furiously. Michael laughed, flagging down the waiter to get the check.

They barely made it outside of the restaurant before Michael pulled Jeremy in for a long kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EEK! i hope you liked this chapter and where the story is going!! honestly i'm just proud that i'm getting this chapter posted before it's even dark outside lmao...


	13. Chapter 13

They had a more serious conversation about everything after the euphoria of finally being together wore off a little. As they laid in bed together, they decided that it had to be the ultimate secret. Michael was dead-set against Jeremy possibly losing his job over this, which meant absolutely nobody could know. Not their friends, not their parents, and especially not Logan.

“I love him, but he can’t keep a secret to save his own life,” Michael said with a laugh. Jeremy smiled, rolling over to bury his face in Michael’s bare neck. Michael’s arm slipped around him, pulling Jeremy in close.

Jeremy felt more at peace than he had in months. He felt more at home in Michael’s arms than he’d ever felt in his apartment. He felt almost like he _belonged_ there. The thought should have scared him. It should have felt too soon, too intense, but instead it just felt right.

Lazily, Jeremy lifted his head to kiss along Michael’s jaw, pushing himself up until their lips met once again. Michael pulled on Jeremy, sliding him until Jeremy was lying on top of Michael as they kissed. Jeremy pressed down harder, wanting to be as close to Michael as possible.

They laid there for what felt both like an eternity and a few minutes when Michael’s phone went off. Michael groaned loudly as Jeremy pulled away. Jeremy settled for sucking gently on Michael’s neck, too softly to leave a mark but enough to get a reaction from the man under him.

Michael blindly reached for his phone on the side table and answered it.

“Hello? Mrs. Davis?” Michael spoke carefully, threading his free hand through Jeremy’s hair as he found a new spot on Michael’s neck to kiss. “Oh, shit. Yeah, I’ll be right there.”

Jeremy pouted, but sat up. Michael sighed, hanging up the phone.

“Logan got sick at the party. I guess he ate too much cake or something,” Michael explained.

“Is he okay?” Jeremy asked immediately, concerned.

“Yeah, probably, but he still needs to come home,” Michael replied. Jeremy nodded and slid off of Michael’s lap and then got to his feet. He started collecting his clothes from the floor, slipping them on silently. Michael followed suit.

“It’s gonna kinda suck,” Michael said as he tugged his shirt over his head, “having to keep it a secret.”

“Yeah,” Jeremy allowed. He turned and grabbed Michael’s arm, pulling him into a gentle kiss. He pulled back just enough to say, “But it’s worth it if I get to do that.” 

Michael smiled against his lips, stepping closer to deepen the kiss. They stayed like that for a long moment before Jeremy finally found the strength to pull back. He gave Michael one last peck on the corner of his mouth. “I’ll call you, okay?”

“Logan goes to bed at eight,” Michael replied. Jeremy nodded, smiling, and made his way out of the house.

—

“You didn’t call me at all this weekend! Not even a text, I’m hurt.” Jeremy looked up, startled, to see Brooke in his doorway Monday morning. There was still forty-five minutes until school started and none of the kids had shown up quite yet.

“Uh, sorry. I got busy,” Jeremy explained lamely. Brooke raised her eyebrows suggestively and Jeremy blushed crimson.

“All weekend long?” She asked teasingly. “Someone got busy.”

“Brooke,” Jeremy groaned, “Rich is supposed to be the one who gives me a hard time.”

Brooke looked delighted, making her way into the classroom and to his desk. “Oh, he will when I tell him. We’ll gang up on you.”

“You’re both evil.”

“I know.”

Brooke leaned against his desk, forcing Jeremy to look up at her. “So, are you gonna see him again?” Jeremy didn’t know what to say, so he just sort of shrugged. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I— It means I don’t know,” he said, fiddling with the papers on his desk. They were going to be practicing subtracting big numbers today, so he had lots of practice worksheets prepared. “We’ll just have to see what happens, I guess.”

Brooke frowned. “That seems weirdly negative for a date that kept you busy _all_ weekend.”

Jeremy floundered, not knowing how much of the truth he should spill and how much he needed to keep to himself. Finally, he just sort of blurted out, “I think it might have been a ‘one and done’ kind of deal. I don’t know.” Inwardly, he cursed. That was a bald-faced lie.

“Oh, Jeremy, I’m sorry.” Jeremy shrugged her off.

“It’s really okay. Don’t worry about it,” he assured her. “I’ve got a lot on my plate as it is, anyway.” Thanksgiving break was just a few short weeks away, and it felt like a beacon. Jeremy couldn’t wait to have five days in a row with no students, no teaching, no _work_. It sounded like a dream come true.

Brooke still looked upset, but dropped the subject. She started talking about one of the little girls in her class who was quite a handful— she kept getting into fights and picking on the other kids. “I think she has problems at home, but I can’t get either of her parents to come in and talk to me about it.”

Jeremy tried to offer some advice, but Brooke was a much more experienced teacher and there really wasn’t anything Jeremy could say that she hadn’t already thought of. They talked for a while longer, until Mrs. Greene dropped off Lucy exactly half an hour before school began, just like every other day. Brooke took that as her cue to get back to her own classroom.

Surprisingly, Rich didn’t tease Jeremy about Michael (and Brooke didn’t bring up Jeremy’s “mystery date”). He spent all of lunch regaling his own weekend adventures, ending with how he ran into one of his old students while he was on a date (Jeremy felt bad for that kid, whoever they were). 

Jeremy actually thought Rich wasn’t gonna say anything until he got a text that afternoon, right after he’d dropped his students off for gym class.

**Rich** : so you ever gonna tell me what went down saturday?? please tell me you didn’t leave your underwear at his place

Jeremy bit his bottom lip, leaning back in his desk chair. He felt bad lying to Rich, who had been so supportive and honestly just great through this whole thing, but he knew he had to.

**Me** : it was a nice dinner, but we agreed nothing is gonna happen

**Rich** : ya know that didn’t work out well the first time

**Me** : i know, but there’s nothing else we could do

**Rich** : date in secret

Oh, if only he knew.

**Me** : yeah right

—

On Tuesday morning, Jeremy lied and said he forgot some worksheets at home to explain why he wasn’t going to be eating lunch at the school. Brooke made a point to remind him to grab something to eat on the way back, no matter what. 

“You can’t be skipping meals, Jeremy!” Jeremy waved her off, promising to grab a sub from Subway on the way back, and hurried off to his class.

He met Michael at a Mexican restaurant near the mall. While Jeremy had an extra-long lunch on Tuesdays because his kids had music right before lunch (the music teacher took them so Jeremy didn’t have to), Michael still only had his hour-long lunch. Still, this meant they could eat somewhere close to Michael’s work to maximize the time they could spend together.

Mexican Fiesta was almost completely empty save for one day-drinker at the bar and an elderly couple in the back, so Michael and Jeremy contented themselves to sharing the same side of a booth, where they could cuddle and sneak kisses until their food came.

Michael put an absurd amount of hot sauce on top of his burritos, so much that the smell made Jeremy’s eyes water. Jeremy wasn’t a huge fan of spicy food, but he just knew Michael would tease him if he said anything. They ate as Michael ranted about some dumb coworker who was barely qualified getting a raise after only two months with the company. Jeremy listened, surprisingly actually caring.

It was such a simple date, but it was honestly amazing. It felt normal, like they weren’t even sneaking around. It felt comfortable, like this wasn’t only their second date (if Saturday night actually counted as one). Michael kept his arm around Jeremy’s shoulders, lightly drawing patterns with his fingers on Jeremy’s shoulder.

And then it was time to go or else Michael would be late getting back to work. Jeremy pretended to pout, but Michael pacified him with a kiss. Jeremy’s lips tingled on the way back to the school, though if it was from the kiss or the hot sauce, he didn’t know.

“You seem… weirdly happy,” Brooke commented when Jeremy ran into her in the hallway. They walked with each other to the playground to pick up the kids from recess. Jeremy shrugged. “No, but for real, what’s got you in such a good mood?”

“Uh, I had a really good sub for lunch?” It was a stupid lie, but Brooke just rolled her eyes and accepted it. Jeremy made a concentrated effort not to be so obvious that he’d just seen Michael.

They met up with Rich right outside the playground, who seemed to notice Jeremy’s good mood, but chose not to comment on it. Jeremy didn’t know why, but he was grateful. He really wasn’t a good liar.

Logan was at the front of the line on the playground (it was his turn to be line leader), and he looked like he’d been crying. 

“Hey,” Jeremy said gently, kneeling down to be eye-level with him, “what’s wrong?”

Logan showed Jeremy his elbow, which was scraped up pretty bad. Jeremy made a sympathetic face.

“That looks like it hurts.” Logan nodded tearfully. “I had some bandaids in the classroom, so we’ll clean it up when we get there, alright?”

“Okay,” Logan replied in a small, teary voice. He clung to Jeremy’s sleeve on the walk back to class, but Jeremy didn’t comment on it. He told the class to get to their seats and pull out their reading materials and start reading. Then he led Logan over to his desk, opening the drawer where the first aid kit was.

“So how did you get hurt?” Jeremy asked, opening a small wipe so he could clean the scrape. Logan didn’t even whine when he wiped the scrape gently, though it must have stung.

“Kyle pushed me on the sidewalk,” he mumbled. Jeremy’s eyebrows knit together.

“Was it an accident?” He threw the wipe aways and grabbed a bandaid, checking to be sure it was the correct size before opening it. Logan just shrugged, but he wouldn’t look at Jeremy. “Logan, buddy, you gotta help me out here, okay? Were you guys just goofing off and you got hurt, or was Kyle being mean?”

“He was mad at me,” Logan mumbled. He shoved his glasses up with his free hand, though they just slipped back down his nose again. Jeremy nodded silently.

“Okay.” He put the bandaid on securely. Logan was still crying, though he was trying to be quiet about it. “Do you wanna do your reading or do you need a few minutes to calm down?”

“A few minutes, please.” God, he looked so upset. It broke Jeremy’s heart. Jeremy nodded.

“Go ahead and take a few minutes and I’ll deal with Kyle, okay?” Logan nodded silently. He sat on the ground next to Jeremy’s desk (Jeremy guessed that he didn’t want everyone to see he’d been crying), and Jeremy walked over to Kyle, trying to silently take him into the hall without making a huge deal of it. Of course, everyone in the class noticed.

“Oooooooooh,” they all chorused. Jeremy sighed.

“Keep reading, everyone. Lucy, you’re in charge, okay?” Lucy nodded gravely, taking her responsibility seriously.

Jeremy sighed and shut the door behind him so he could deal with Kyle in private.

Kyle wouldn’t look at him.

“You know what you did was wrong,” Jeremy commented. Kyle shrugged. “Do you wanna talk to me about it, or do you wanna talk to the principal?”

Kyle just shrugged again and Jeremy bit back an exasperated sigh. God, his good mood was already slipping away and it had only been twenty minutes since he’d seen Michael.

Jeremy did his best to talk to Kyle, to figure out what was going on. “Logan’s your best friend, so why would you push him?” Finally, after Kyle refused to talk, Jeremy said, “Then you’re sitting out during arts and crafts and we’ll take to your grandmother when she shows up.”

Kyle looked slightly panicked at that, but nodded anyway. Jeremy felt like he didn’t know what to do— like he was useless as a teacher. He couldn’t even get the kid to talk to him!

Finally, he led Kyle back into the remarkably silent classroom (Lucy was good at being in charge) and started walking around the classroom, looking to see if anyone needed help with their reading. He wished he was back at the restaurant with Michael instead of here, but he kept in mind that it was only a few hours until Michael would be picking Logan up.

Sure, they couldn’t act like they were together, but it was better than nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's another chapter!! the ending kind of got away from me, but i hope you still enjoyed it! i just love writing the boyfs happy together :)


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is vv angsty and i'm sorry

Making Kyle miss out on recess for the rest of the week was supposed to be a punishment for _Kyle_ , but it turned out to be just as much a punishment for Jeremy, too. It meant his lunch hour was cut in half and he had to sit in his room with Kyle sighing loudly for thirty minutes. It was driving Jeremy up a wall.

Wednesday afternoon, Jeremy had sat down with Kyle and Mrs. Riera and had a very long conversation about the recess incident. Even with Mrs. Riera’s help (who was a lot more intimidating that Jeremy had ever realized), the best they’d gotten out of Kyle was that he’d gotten mad at Logan and shoved him. Jeremy couldn’t figure out if that really was all it was or if there was something the two boys were saying. From what he could tell, there wasn’t anything going on at home that could provoke that kind of behavior.

And so there they were on Friday, sitting in the empty classroom. Jeremy was leaning back in his desk chair, bored out of his mind. Kyle had his head buried in his arms, though he made sure his sighs were heard.

Jeremy pulled out his phone, but there was nothing new to check. He set it back down, making a concentrated effort not to groan. As if on cue, his phone buzzed. His lips curled into a smile when he saw the text— a picture of Michael taking a deep drink of his coffee, eyes closed in bliss.

**Michael** : today officially sucks and this coffee is the only thing getting me through

**Me** : i’m jealous of that coffee tbh

**Michael** : yeah you are ;)

**Michael** : also it turns out my ex is taking logan for the weekend

**Michael** : the /whole/ weekend

Jeremy raised his eyebrows, blushing a little at the implication. Smirking to himself, he texted back.

**Me** : oh?

**Me** : and what will u do with a whole weekend to urself?

**Michael** : jeremy i swear to god

**Me** : ?

**Michael** : are you really going to make me formally ask you to spend the weekend with me

**Me** : well it would be nice…………

**Michael** : oh my god okay

**Michael** : jeremy would you like to spend a child free weekend with me?

**Me** : of course :)

“Mr. Heere?” Jeremy looked up from his phone to see Kyle standing in front of him. “I’m bored.”

“I know you are,” Jeremy said, not unkindly. “But that’s kind of the point. This is supposed to be a punishment. This is what happens when you do a bad thing.” Kyle made a face.

“Can’t I just play a game or something?”

“That would defeat the purpose, so no.” Jeremy almost wanted to take pity on the kid, but then he remembered Logan’s crying face and is resolved strengthened. “Go and sit back down, okay? There’s only ten minutes until we have to go pick up the rest of the class.” Kyle made a big show of whining and groaning as he stomped back to his seat. Jeremy chose not to comment on it, though he was close to threatening another day of no recess.

**Michael** : i’ll text you when logan gets picked up and you can head over, okay? we can get pizza or something 

**Me** : sounds great

—

**Michael** : this weekend is a no go

**Michael** : she didn’t fucking show up

**Michael** : i’ll call you when i can calm logan down enough to go to bed

Jeremy sat on his couch later that evening, waiting for the okay to head over to Michael’s when his phone started buzzing repeatedly. He frowned as he read the texts. He didn’t know what to respond with— how do you reply to that? Should he even reply?

God, he felt bad for Logan. Jeremy definitely knew what it was like to have a parent walk out of your life and never look back, but at least he’d been fifteen when that had happened. Logan was only seven, for Christ’s sake!

Jeremy stood and went to find some leftovers in his fridge to eat for dinner, since pizza with Michael was now out of the question. He found some shepherd’s pie and tossed it into the microwave. He was too caught up in his thought, a mix of disappointment over the botched weekend and worry over Logan, to notice when the microwave beeped, signaling his food was done. He had to pop it back in before he could eat it once he finally remembered it was there.

It wasn’t until a full three hours later that Michael finally called, sounding utterly exhausted. It was eleven o’clock at night by then.

“Hey,” Michael said lowly. “He’s finally asleep.”

“I won’t ask how he is, because I’m pretty sure he’s not okay,” Jeremy said softly. He sat on his couch, curled up under a blanket. He’d been half asleep when his phone had finally rang. “That’s just awful.”

“He’s taking it really bad,” Michael said. “It’s been months since he’s seen her. She hardly even calls— god, he was so fucking excited!” There was a faint thud, which sounded like Michael had hit a table or something in anger. He sighed loudly. “I’m sorry about our weekend—”

“Don’t. Don’t be sorry,” Jeremy cut in firmly. “You need to take care of Logan. I know how hard this is on him.”

“It would be easier if she had any interest at all in being a mom,” Michael said bitterly. “No— you don’t want to hear about her. I mean, we’ve barely actually been together and—”

“If you want to talk, I’ll listen,” Jeremy said. “I really don’t mind.”

“God, I don’t even know where to begin. We were nineteen when she got pregnant? Yeah, nineteen. I was still in denial over my sexuality and Vanessa was everything I thought I was supposed to want and— we were barely into our sophomore year of college when she got pregnant. She was so excited.”

Jeremy was quiet, listening to Michael talk. He sunk down further into the cushions of his couch, hoping he was being as supportive as Michael needed. He really didn’t know what to do here. He’d always been the one to get left, and his dad had never really been able to comfort him over it.

“It’s kind of ironic that I never even had to come out to her,” Michael went on. “She decided shortly after Logan’s first birthday that she wasn’t interested in being a mom. God, what was it that she said? He wasn’t cute enough anymore? Like she was only in it for the baby aesthetic or something.” 

“What a fucking bitch,” Jeremy breathed, then he caught himself. “Shit, I wasn’t gonna—”

Michael snorted. “That’s an understatement.”

“Sorry, I wasn’t gonna shit-talk her, but that’s just… terrible doesn’t seem like a strong enough word.”

“Don’t be sorry. Anyone with eyes can see she’s a terrible person. Except her, that is.” Michael paused a moment. “You know, I knew it was a bad idea to say she could take him for the weekend, but technically she still has visitation rights and she swore this time would be different. I should have known better.”

“This isn’t your fault, Michael,” Jeremy said firmly. “Logan deserves to have both of his parents in his life and you were just trying to make that happen for him.”

“And because of me, now he’s hurt.”

“Because of _her_ , he’s hurt. You’re the one who stayed, Michael. You’re the good guy here,” Jeremy said emphatically, hoping it got through to him. Jeremy knew that self-deprecation could create a pretty thick wall, but Jeremy hoped he could break it down and make Michael see that he wasn’t to blame.

“Yeah, I guess— Oh, hey buddy.” Michael’s voice became muffled, like he’d put his hand over the receiver. “Logan’s awake, so I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Okay, no hurry though. Take care of Logan.”

“I will.”

—

Jeremy had barely heard from Michael all weekend, but he did his best not to worry. He hoped Michael and Logan were just having some quality father-son time. They both definitely deserved it.

He knew it was going to be a rough day when Logan came in with his grandmother fifteen minutes late. Logan’s face was already red; he’d definitely been crying on the way to school. His grandmother, Stacy, was doing her best to be patient, but clearly felt out of her depth. She shot Jeremy an apologetic smile as she walked Logan to his cubby and then his desk. Jeremy nodded in response, calling back the class’s attention and continuing teaching.

Logan did not want to cooperate and he made that very clear. Jeremy passed out a spelling quiz and Logan actually tried to hand it right back, saying, “No, thanks.” Jeremy was so flummoxed that he didn’t know what to say in response to that. Finally, he just set the quiz Logan’s desk and moved on. Logan doodled all over the quiz, not answering a single question.

Logan tried to talk to Ryan during the entirety of reading time. They didn’t even sit in the same desk group! He just kept getting up and walking across the room to Ryan’s desk, book still in hand.

“Logan, you need to sit down,” Jeremy called out more than once. When Logan waved him off, Jeremy had to get up and steer the kid back to his desk. By the time Jeremy had returned to his own desk, Logan was out of his seat again. “Logan, you need to do you’re reading? If you need help, I can help you.”

“I don’t need help,” Logan replied. “I’m just thirsty.” He was heading to the door.

“Well, you need to ask before going to the water fountain.”

“Okay.” Jeremy’s jaw practically dropped when Logan opened the door and walked out anyway. The kids all dropped their books, whispering in awe over Logan’s blatant disrespect.

“Quiet down, everyone,” Jeremy said quickly, jumping out of his seat and hurrying towards the door. “Keep reading, I’ll be right back.”

Logan was on his tiptoes, trying to reach the water spraying from the fountain.

“Logan.” Logan fell back on his heels, sighing like he was resigned to the fact that he was in trouble. “You cannot just walk out of the classroom like that. You didn’t even ask.”

Logan sniffled, staring resolutely at the grey water fountain. Jeremy sighed, standing next to him. He crouched down to be the same height as Logan.

“How about we hang out during recess today and we can talk about this, okay? You can tell me what’s going on, why you’re so upset.” Logan rubbed his eyes with both fists.

“Can we still go outside?”

“Sure.” Logan nodded.

“Can you do me a favor though and do your work until then?” Logan looked at him with watery eyes, but nodded. “Good. Come on, let’s go back inside.”

“Am I in trouble?” Jeremy knew the answer should be yes, but he couldn’t bring himself to say so.

“Let’s wait and see after recess, okay?” Logan didn’t like that answer, but seemed to accept it nonetheless.

Jeremy didn’t even mind giving up half of his lunch break for this.

Rich and Brooke both questioned him when he ducked out of the teacher’s lounge early, but he just said he needed to speak with a student and left. He was surprised to see Logan waiting by the door to the playground when he walked outside.

They sat down with their backs against the school building, facing the children running around, playing. The November air was crisp and cool, but not quite uncomfortable yet.

“So, do you wanna talk about it?” Jeremy asked, looking down at Logan. Logan pushed his glasses up his nose, shrugging silently. “Come on, I can keep a secret.” Logan still didn’t speak. Jeremy allowed them to sit in silence for a minute or two, hoping Logan would open up on his own.

“I want my mommy,” he said finally, his voice wobbly. It made Jeremy tear up immediately.

“I’m sorry, bud,” Jeremy said thickly.

“I was s’posed to see her on Friday,” Logan went on, “but she couldn’t come. She never comes.” Logan started crying again, curling in on himself. He linked his arms around his knees, making himself as small as he could.

“That’s rough, buddy,” Jeremy said. “I know what that’s like.” Logan looked up at him, his glasses spotted from his tears.

“You do?” Jeremy nodded.

“My mommy left when I was younger,” he replied. “I was older than you are, but it still hurt. I missed her so, so much, but she never came back.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know. I wish I knew, I think that would make it hurt less.” Logan reached out and grabbed Jeremy’s hand, squeezing it tight.

“I wish my mommy wanted me.” God, if that didn’t break Jeremy’s heart in two.

“But at least you have your dad,” Jeremy pointed out. “He seems pretty great. I mean, _my_ dad never went on field trips with me.” That was a lie, but Logan didn’t need to know that. “And you have your grandma and your nana, too.”

“Yeah,” Logan agreed. “I still want my mommy, though.”

“I know. But sometimes we have to focus on the things we do have instead of the things we want. And you have so many great people who love you, Logan. And when you’re feeling sad like this, you can talk to any of them or you can talk to me and we can help you. You don’t have to be sad alone, okay?”

Logan looked up at him a moment before finally saying, “Okay.”

“Good. Now, how would you feel about taking that spelling quiz after school today?” Logan made a face, but looked sheepish when he remembered how he’d behaved.

“I’m sorry I was mean today,” he said.

“I forgive you,” Jeremy said. “But next time, try to talk to me instead of acting out, okay? We can work something out. Deal?” Jeremy held out a closed fist. Logan gave him a (very) small smile.

“Deal.” He touched his small fist against Jeremy’s and it felt like a win.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i promise there is fluff coming soon okay


	15. Chapter 15

“I promise we’ll actually get the weekend to ourselves this time,” Michael said on the phone. “My mom has promised Logan a whole weekend, just the two of them. And she won’t bail, so we’re good.”

Jeremy smiled, even though Michael couldn’t see it. “That sounds great.”

He could practically hear Michael’s grin matching his own. “Mom should be here around six, so if you wanna get here a little after that, we can get this weekend started early.” Jeremy’s smile grew and he quirked an eyebrow. He ducked into the teacher’s lounge, figuring it would still be empty. He’d dropped the kids off at lunch a few minutes early.

“Oh? You sound like you have a plan?”

“You could say that,” Michael said suggestively.

“Jeremy?” Jeremy jumped at the sound of Brooke’s voice, dropping his phone onto the carpeted floor. He scrambled to pick it up before she could see the caller name (it just said ‘Michael’ but she would definitely figure it out).

“Gotta go, bye,” he said and hung up before Michael could say anything. Jeremy whirled around to face Brooke, who looked utterly perplexed by his behavior. “Hey, Brooke!” He winced when his voice cracked.

“Hey, Jer,” she said slowly. She was holding her keys in her hand. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” he said quickly. “Totally fine. What’s up?”

“I was gonna ask if you wanted anything from McDonald’s,” she said, “but then you started acting all… weird.”

“Yeah, I’ve, uh, I’ve just been kinda jumpy today.” Brooke raised her eyebrows. 

“I’ll just get you a milkshake,” she decided. “And fries.”

“You really don’t have to,” Jeremy said. He felt guilty enough about lying to her; she really didn’t need to be buying him food, too. Jeremy’s phone buzzed in his hand. He tightened his grip on the phone, knowing it was Michael calling back.

“I know,” Brooke said sweetly. “I’ll be back in twenty.” She left, leaving Jeremy alone in the teacher’s lounge.

Jeremy was going to answer Michael’s call, but the door to the teacher’s lounge opened again and the group of third grade teachers all filed in together. Jeremy declined the call and texted Michael instead.

**Me** : sorry, brooke surprised me and i freaked

**Michael** : ah okay you worried me for a sec there

**Me** : sorry

**Michael** : don’t be! i’ll see you tomorrow then? mom is picking logan up so you can head over once you’re done at work

Jeremy sent a thumbs-up emoji, then cringed. It looked so lame! He hoped Michael didn’t think he was lame because he sent it. He sighed and sat on the couch, opening his lunch from home. He was already looking forward to the fries Brooke was going to bring.

Rich joined him a few minutes later, complaining about one of the kids in his class.

“He’s such a little shit, I can’t stand him,” he said. One of the third grade teachers shot him a dirty look and he made a face at her. “I know you had Jason in your class, Aileen, but you have to admit he’s a dick!”

“You shouldn’t be talking about students like that,” Aileen reprimanded. She was an older woman who reminded Jeremy of his grandmother on his mom’s side (who was an old, but very intimidating woman).

“They’re not here,” Rich retorted with a mouth full of food. “They can’t hear me.”

Jeremy just shook his head, amused.

“Jeremy agrees with me. Jer, tell them about that asshole Kyle kid in your class.” Now the old lady glares were on him. Jeremy colored easily.

“I— uh— I really don’t need— Brooke! Thank god you’re back!” Brooke practically came to his rescue when she entered the teacher’s lounge, multiple bags and cups in hand. Jeremy jumped up to help her set everything on the coffee table.

Brooke passed out the food that she bought to everyone, ignoring Jeremy’s weak protests when she shoved a vanilla milkshake and large fry into his hands. He finally gave in and thanked her, sitting on the couch to eat. The fries were much better than the leftovers he’d brought.

His phone buzzed and he picked it up, chewing on his straw as he looked at the phone. Michael had sent him another text. 

**Michael** : is it bad that i’m way too excited for tomorrow??

A grin stretched across Jeremy’s lips as he typed back a response.

**Me** : not rlly bc i am too

“What’s got you all smiley?” Brooke asked. Jeremy resisted the urge to throw his phone in a panic.

“Nothing,” he said quickly.

“Dude, you’re not a good liar,” Rich said with a laugh. “How did you get away with _anything_ as a teenager?”

Jeremy shrugged, though he was grateful that Rich had steered the conversation away from dangerous territory so quickly. “I never did anything that I needed to get away with, I guess.”

“Never?” Rich sounded incredulous. Jeremy shrugged.

“I was kind of a nerd, you know? I wasn’t a bad kid. I bet you were, though.” Rich shot him a wicked grin.

“The worst,” he confirmed.

“But seriously,” Brooke jumped in, “you’ve been so much happier lately. What’s going on?”

Jeremy shrugged again, hoping he didn’t look as nervous as he felt. “I don’t know. Things are good right now, I guess.” It wasn’t really a lie, so hopefully they couldn’t see right through him.

Rich didn’t seem to care, which was a bit of relief. He just shrugged it off and bit into the hamburger Brooke had brought him.

“I don’t mean that it’s a bad thing,” Brooke said, “just… odd.” But, thankfully, she dropped it. She started talking about the history assignment she was planning on starting with her kids that afternoon. Apparently it was one of her favorites of the year and she was really looking forward to it. Jeremy nibbled on his fries, pretending to be interested when he was really just relieved the topic of conversation had finally shifted for good. He really didn't know how much more lying he could take.

—

The next day, Jeremy was more than anxious for school to end. He’d actually gone so far as to stick a movie on for the last hour and a half because he just couldn’t keep his mind on teaching. He was far too ready for the weekend. Schoolhouse Rock was educational, so he wasn’t being a _terrible_ teacher, right?

Alina was the one who picked Logan up from school that day. Jeremy awkwardly waved when she entered, trying not to think how he was about to sneak off with her son for the weekend. Yikes. Logan was his usual self, calling goodbye to at least half the class before he finally allowed Alina to walk him out of the room. Jeremy just shook his head, doing his best not to check his phone over and over as the minutes ticked by.

He practically sped all the way to Michael’s house once all of the children had finally left, pulling up alongside the curb and parking. He looked up at the house and did his best not to feel nervous. It didn’t really work, but he managed to get himself out of the car, so it was good enough.

He’d barely knocked on the door when Michael opened it and pulled him inside, which really set the tone for the rest of the weekend.

“Hi,” Jeremy said, his voice muffled against Michael’s mouth. Michael nipped at his lip to shut him up, closing the door behind them. He pressed Jeremy against the door, kissing him deeply. Jeremy couldn’t help but smile into the kiss.

“You took so long,” Michael complained.

“Sorry, some of the parents were late,” Jeremy said, pulling him in for another kiss. “I got here as fast as I could.”

“Excuses, excuses,” Michael mumbled. “Here I was, waiting so patiently…”

“What, do you want a reward?”

“Maybe,” Michael said suggestively. Jeremy’s heart stuttered with excitement. This was about to be a really good weekend.

“I think I can do that,” he said. Michael beamed and led Jeremy back to the bedroom.

—

Jeremy decided that this was what paradise was like. It was Saturday afternoon and he was laying against Michael’s chest, situated comfortably between his legs. Michael’s arms were wrapped around Jeremy’s stomach as they watched a movie. They were watching the third Spider-man movie with Tobey Maguire and Michael was having a field day making fun of every little piece of it.

“I like this movie!” Jeremy protested more than once. Sure, it wasn’t his favorite Spider-man movie, but it wasn’t so bad! Michael snorted in his ear.

“You have bad taste, then.” Jeremy shivered as Michael’s cool breath hit his skin.

He turned to face Michael, eyebrows raised. “Oh really? I have bad taste?” He pressed into Michael’s chest suggestively, relishing in the red tint that colored his boyfriend’s cheeks. 

“Maybe just in movies,” Michael allowed, voice suddenly hoarse. He looked down at Jeremy over his glasses.

Jeremy hummed before leaning in to kiss him. He’d seen the movie enough times anyway, and kissing Michael was much more fun.

Michael responded immediately, kissing back deep and hard. Jeremy somehow ended up twisted around so he was sitting in Michael’s lap, basically straddling him. Michael’s hands wandered around as Jeremy’s made home in Michael’s dark hair. The movie all but faded away as they got lost in each other.

Things were just heating up when— 

“Hey, we just needed to grab—“ Jeremy jumped back at the sound of a woman’s voice, hitting his head on the coffee table. 

“Mom!” Michael cried out, mortified. It was like they were teenagers, sneaking kisses and being walked in on by their parents. Jeremy sat up, rubbing his head gingerly. He blinked, taking in the situation in front of him.

Michael’s mother, Stacy, was standing in the front doorway, Logan right by her side. Logan’s eyes were wide and Jeremy felt his cheeks heat up. Oh, shit.

“Uh, hello,” Stacy said awkwardly, “we needed to grab Logan’s winter coat. The one he brought isn’t warm enough.” She was holding onto Logan’s hand and dropped it, looking like she wished she could bolt right then.

“I’ll go get it,” Michael said, getting to his feet. He looked from his mother, to his son, to Jeremy, before hurrying down the hall to Logan’s bedroom. Traitor. He just _left_ Jeremy alone with the two of them! The ache in his head was nothing compared to the awkward tension that filled the room.

“Mr. Heere?” Logan piped up, pushing his glasses up his nose. “What are you doing here? Kissing my dad?” He wrinkled his nose at that. That had to have been gross to the poor kid. 

“Um,” Jeremy said unintelligibly. “Uh.” His brain felt like it had whited out, short-circuited, and shut down for the day. He couldn’t think of a way to talk them out of this situation.

“Yeah, this is news to me,” Stacy said carefully. “I would have called first if I’d known you had company, Michael.” Her tone was heavy with implication, which made Jeremy blush harder. Michael cleared his throat, having returned with Logan’s big blue winter coat. He crossed the room to the space where his mom and son were both standing, half-frozen.

“Dad, why were you kissing Mr. Heere?” Logan asked innocently as he accepted the coat from his father.

“Um,” Michael said. Clearly Jeremy wasn’t the only one blanking in the moment.

“You two are like a broken record,” Stacy said dryly. She turned to Logan, salvaging the situation for them. “Honey, we should be going if we’re gonna get to the movies in time.”

“Right…” Logan said unsurely. Michael sighed and knelt down to his height.

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow, okay?” He said. “I’ll, um, explain then.”

Logan looked confused, but apparently the promise of a movie was enough to keep him from asking more questions. He took Stacy’s hand once more and followed her back out the door, though he did shout goodbye to Jeremy, which was just kind of mortifying.

“I’ll call you later, sweetheart,” Stacy said as she grabbed the doorknob. “Nice to see you, Mr. Heere.”

“Nice to see you,” Jeremy replied faintly. Stacy pulled the door shut with a final click.

“Fuck,” Michael groaned, rubbing his eyes with both hands. Jeremy leaned back against the couch, dazed.

“Fuck,” he echoed. They were screwed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BE MORE CHILL IS GOING OFF-BROADWAY THIS SUMMER AND I AM GOING!! I'M GONNA DIE
> 
> also sorry updates have been slowing down-- hopefully they'll pick up next week once i'm home from school!


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enjoy this extra-long chapter, friends!!

The rest of the weekend was still pretty nice, but there was a lingering awkwardness after having been walked in on by Michael’s mom and child. Jeremy left Sunday afternoon, with Michael promising to talk to his moms and Logan that evening.

“I’ll take care of it,” he promised Jeremy. It didn’t fully ease the anxiety pooling in Jeremy’s chest, but it helped. He gave Michael a sweet kiss on the lips before walking out the door and to his car.

Jeremy was halfway through grading all of his papers when Michael called him that night.

“So, I talked to them,” he said. Jeremy tapped his fingers on the kitchen table, feeling nervous again.

“And?”

“Logan kind of thinks it’s cool?” Jeremy blinked, surprised.

“Really?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, he’s a still kinda grossed out over the fact that he saw us kissing, but he loves you, you know?” Jeremy’s heart swelled at that. “He, uh, he said that if he had to have another dad, he was glad it’s you.”

“Wow,” Jeremy said, speechless. He’d always felt close to Logan, but he didn’t realize Logan actually _liked_ him.

Michael misinterpreted his response and hurried to add, “I tried to explain to him that this doesn’t mean you’re his dad now or anything, but I didn’t want to upset him? He was taking everything so well, I mean…”

“Yeah, no, I get it! I’m not upset that he said that or anything,” Jeremy said. He ran a hand through his hair. Ugh, he really needed to shower tonight. “It’s just a relief to know that he’s not, like, freaking out over it.”

“He took it all really well. My moms are a little more skeptical, but they seemed okay.”

“Are you sure? They’re not gonna—”

“They’re not going to do anything, Jeremy,” Michael assured him. “I promise. This is the first good relationship I’ve had since before Vanessa; they’re not going to spoil it for me.”

“Well, good. I just can’t help but worry, you know? I—” Jeremy’s phone beeped and he pulled it away to look. It was his dad, which was kind of a surprise. His dad wasn’t the kind of person who enjoyed chatting on the phone much. He promised to call Michael back and switched the call over. “Dad? Hey.”

“Hey, Jeremy! Long time no talk.”

“Yeah. What’s up?” Jeremy and his dad had never really seen eye-to-eye, especially after Mom left. Dad had gone months without ever putting on a pair of pants, which was all kinds of wrong, and only started acting like a parent again when Jeremy started acting out. Their relationship had gotten better once Jeremy went to college, but it wasn’t the best. And now that Jeremy lived so far away, they hardly even talked anymore. Sometimes Jeremy looked at the relationship Michael had with his mothers and felt jealous.

“What, can’t a father call his son on a Sunday night?” Dad sounded offended and Jeremy couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. Their senses humor didn’t exactly mesh well, either. You’d almost think they hadn’t lived in the same house for eighteen years.

“No, of course you can,” Jeremy said. He continued to grade papers as he talked, figuring he needed to get this work done. “I was just asking.”

Dad started rambling on about his work and some coworker who keeps bragging about his granddaughter. If he was being honest, Jeremy really wasn’t listening. He was flying through his papers, crossing wrong answers in red pen and adding stickers to the tops of the pages.

“So? Are you?” Dad’s question sort of brought Jeremy back to Earth.

“Um,” he said guiltily, “am I what?”

Dad sighed. “Are you seeing anyone? You know, dating? This is the prime of your life, kid. You should be getting out there.”

“Oh. Uh—” Could he tell his dad about Michael? Jeremy chewed on his bottom lip a moment before saying, “I mean, kinda. I’ve— I’ve been seeing this guy.”

“Wow. I didn't actually think you’d have a boyfriend already.” Jeremy didn’t know whether his dad’s genuine surprise was a good thing or not. There was an awkward pause, but Jeremy couldn’t figure out what he was supposed to say, so he said nothing. “Were you going to tell me about him? Is he a teacher, too?”

“Oh! Right, sorry,” Jeremy laughed awkwardly. “His name is Michael. He’s not a teacher. He designs video games.” Dad let out a low whistle— the only thing he truly knew about Jeremy was his love of video games. It sounded like a match made in heaven.

“How did you two meet?” Dad asked, sounding like he actually was interested. It was nice.

Jeremy opened his mouth to reply, then realize he couldn’t really say. He couldn’t tell his dad that Michael was one of his students’ parents! There were a million ways that could bite him in the ass. “In a bar. I was out with some coworkers and he was out with his friend— Jake. And yeah, the rest is history, I guess.” 

He’d never been the best liar, but his dad bought it easily. They talked a little bit more, Dad mentioning that he might take some time off work to come visit Jeremy (which sounded like a disaster waiting to happen, in all honesty).

Jeremy sighed when he finally hung up the phone. They’d talked for over an hour, which was far longer than he thought he’d ever had a conversation with his father before. It was getting late, but he’d promised to call Michael back.

Michael’s cheerful voice still brought a smile to his face when he picked up the phone.

—

Monday was nerve-wracking in a whole new way. Michael had promised that Logan could keep the secret, but Jeremy wasn’t so sure. He got to the school earlier than usual. He’d woken up early due to his nerves and just couldn’t hang around his apartment anymore and had headed out.

It was a good fifteen minutes before even the earliest of students would arrive. Jeremy utilized his anxious energy by passing out all the papers he needed to give back, placing them all facedown on the students’ desks. That didn’t take nearly enough time, but he didn’t have much else to do. He sat at his desk, straightening everything in sight just to have something to do.

Lacey was the first one to arrive today. Jeremy jumped every time someone walked through the door, though he didn’t quite know what he was so afraid of. Maybe that Stacy or Alina had gone to the principal? What if the principal came in and dragged Jeremy out of the classroom in front of all the kids? What if—?

Jeremy’s panic was cut short when Mrs. Riera, Kyle’s grandmother, approached his desk. She explained quietly that Kyle was having a rough morning and to expect him to act out.

“Punish him however you see fit,” she said. “I just wanted to give you some warning.” Jeremy thanked her, groaning inwardly. Mondays sucked enough as it was, but when one of his biggest troublemakers was going to be worse that usual… It was not going to be a good day.

Jeremy went over to try to talk to Kyle, just to be friendly and maybe turn his mood around, but Kyle wasn’t having it. He just shoved all of his papers into his desk and sat down, blatantly ignoring Jeremy. Great.

He sighed and spotted Logan walking into the room with Stacy in tow. He and Stacy made eye contact briefly before Jeremy turned away. He really didn’t know how he was supposed to act, so he tried his best to just act normal. It would be fine.

Stacy waved as she left, the same as she always did. Jeremy took a deep breath and waved back, smiling slightly. He took a seat at his desk since there were still a few minutes for class to begin.

He was calling out to Jordan and Nick to not run in the classroom when Logan walked up to his desk.

“Hey Logan, what’s up?” Jeremy asked, eyeing the two boys until they slowed to a walk. The classroom was far too cluttered for children to be running around.

“Are you and my daddy going to get married?” Jeremy almost choked at the question. Luckily, the room was loud enough that none of the other kids seemed to have heard.

“Buddy, didn’t your dad tell you that we can’t talk about that kind of stuff here?” Logan shrugged.

“No one’s listening,” he pointed out.

“Still, we have to be careful, okay?”

“It’s just a question.” Logan pulled open his notebook and showed Jeremy the picture inside. Fuck. Even with the kid’s less-than-stellar art skills, it was easy to tell that it was a picture of Michael and Jeremy holding hands. It was adorable, but it also kind of made Jeremy want to throw up with nerves. “Daddy I couldn’t give it to you because you gotta be a secret, but I wanted you to see it. I thought that if you guys get married then it can go on the wall at the wedding and—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Jeremy said frantically. He gently closed the notebook. “It’s a very nice drawing, Logan, but you’re getting way ahead of yourself. And like I said, we can’t talk about it here.” Logan pushed out his bottom lip into a pout.

“But could it go on the wall?” He pressed, like it was really important to him. Jeremy sighed.

“Ask your dad.”

It was the start of a trend. Logan, as it turned out, was really not great at keeping a secret. Sure, he wasn’t outright telling anyone that Michael and Jeremy were together, but he was hanging around Jeremy’s desk a lot more and was prone to bring the subject up at very inopportune times. He didn’t seem to get the fact that other people could overhear him. Jeremy did his best not to get upset, because he didn’t know if Logan understood how important the secret was to keep, but it kept him on edge. His nerves were shot.

He talked to Michael about it and Michael said more than once that he’d explained again and again to Logan, but it seemed to make no difference. Logan had a child’s view on secret-keeping, where he thought loud whispers and cupping his hand over his mouth was enough to keep others from clueing in.

This continued on throughout the week. Jeremy stressed less about Stacy and Alina doing anything and more about Logan, who was starting to cling to Jeremy’s side even more. He even tried to convince Jeremy to take him on the lunch date he and Michael had planned on Wednesday (Jeremy, luckily, had made the excuse that he wasn’t allowed to take his students out of school. Logan still looked like he wanted to throw a fit over it).

On the one hand, it was a relief that Logan was so okay with their relationship. If he’d reacted poorly, that could have ended everything right there. On the other hand, though, Jeremy wasn’t sure if they’d be able to keep the secret until June.

They’d almost made it to the weekend, though. Jeremy had never been so ready for a Friday than right then. Two whole days where the secret basically could not slip out— it was about to be heaven. He and Michael had a date planned for Saturday night (one perk of having Michael’s moms know about their relationship was that they volunteered to babysit on date nights). It was going to be a really good weekend.

**Michael** : hey my boss held me up, i’m heading out now. will probably be like 20 mins late

**Me** : no prob, me and logan will just hang

**Michael** : logan and i*** 

**Michael** : should i be worried about you teaching my son grammar??

**Me** : shut up and drive

The classroom was almost empty when Jeremy got the texts. Friday afternoons tended to clear out quicker than other days, as everyone was always to anxious for the weekend. Logan was already packed and ready to go.

“Logan, your dad said he’s gonna be a little late,” Jeremy called. Logan sighed dramatically and dropped his backpack and lunchbox back onto his desk.

“Why?” He asked.

“He’s just running late. He’ll be here soon, don’t worry.” Jeremy grinned. “Besides, you get to hang out with me while you wait.” Logan beamed at that. He settled in next to Jeremy and started chattering away immediately about how his dad had promised to take him to the “big library” (meaning the public library, not the school one) that afternoon.

“You should come too, Mr. Heere! It’d be really fun and you could help me pick out books to read and…” Logan continued chattering on about the fun they could have at the library together, which was so cute, but Jeremy was distracted by Brooke and Rich walking into his classroom.

“Hey, guys,” he said, waving a little. Logan paid them no mind, which was surprising since he loved to talk to Brooke. He simply tugged on the sleeve of Jeremy’s button-down to regain his attention.

“And maybe we could go to the zoo! When it gets warmer, I mean…” 

“That could be a fun field trip idea,” Jeremy said quickly, glancing from Brooke to Logan.

“We just wanted to see if you were coming out tonight,” Brooke said. “Hi, Logan.”

“Hi Mrs. Lohst,” Logan said automatically, barely taking a breath before correcting Jeremy. “I didn’t mean as a field trip, I meant like a family trip. Those are more fun anyway and—”

“Hey, buddy, why don’t we talk about that later, huh?” Jeremy said quickly, trying to shut him up.

Luckily, Michael walked in right then, apologizing for his tardiness. The air felt awkward and thick, but Jeremy couldn’t tell if that was just him or what. Logan jumped up and ran to hug his dad, telling him about his zoo idea.

Brooke raised her eyebrows as she greeted Michael. Rich stuck his hands in his pockets and walked closer to Jeremy’s desk, almost like he was blocking Jeremy from Brooke.

Jeremy could see it on Brooke’s face when she put two-and-two together. Her jaw dropped and she whipped around to face Jeremy. She waited until Michael and Logan were out of hearing distance before she spoke.

“Jeremy,” she said severely, “what the fuck?” It was bizarre to hear her swear.

“Give him a break,” Rich jumped in.

“Shut up, Rich. Jeremy, you _know_ it’s against the rules to date Michael, so what are you doing?” 

“I tried not to—” Jeremy tried to explain, but he winced at how stupid he sounded.

“How long?” She demanded.

“A few weeks,” Jeremy admitted. “Logan only found out this weekend.” As if that made it any better.

“You’re going to get caught and you’re going to get fired,” Brooke said seriously. “You understand that, don’t you? You’re not going to be able to keep this up and you’re going to end up worse for it. I don’t mean to be a bitch, but I’m trying to help you—” 

“You’re making way worse than it actually is,” Rich defended, holding a hand up. “You even said yourself that Jer’s been happier lately and this is why. Just leave it be, okay?”

“You’re siding with him? You think he should just risk his whole career— that’s barely even started— for some guy?”

“Michael’s not just ‘some guy’—” Jeremy started defensively. 

At the same time, Rich said, “Yeah, I’m siding with him. He’s, like, my best friend.” The three of them grew quiet at that statement. Rich cleared his throat and added, “I’ll help make sure this doesn’t blow up in Jeremy’s face, okay? If you’re really his friend, you will, too.”

Jeremy felt strangely touched. He hadn’t realized that Rich considered them best friends. He couldn’t help but smile— he’d never really had a best friend before.

Brooke huffed. “I— I’ll think about it,” she said finally. “You guys should go out without me, though. I’ll see you Monday.” She turned on her heels and walked out of the room.

“She won’t rat you out,” Rich promised. “She may not be much help, but she won’t be the one to take you down.”

“She said she would before,” Jeremy reminded him weakly. Rich shook his head.

“She won’t. You wanna go get something to drink?” Jeremy appreciated Rich trying to bring a sense of normalcy and nodded. He slung his messenger bag over his shoulder and grabbed his phone before following Rich out of the classroom.

There was a text from Michael on his phone, so he opened it as they walked. He figured he should tell Michael that Rich and Brooke knew, but that thought left his mind when he read the text.

**Michael** : hey i was gonna tell you when i picked logan up but your friends were there— my moms want us to all go out to dinner sometime this weekend. they want to get to know you ‘officially’ or smth. is sunday okay for you?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was not meant to have so much drama in it at the end, but what can you do?


	17. Chapter 17

Jeremy called his dad while having a meltdown that evening. He couldn’t fully explain why he was freaking out, but thankfully his dad understood the “meet-the-parents” fear. That, at least, tended to be universal. Jeremy sat on his couch, then stood up and paced, then sat back down. And repeat. He couldn’t stand still. Moving was the only way he could find to expel his anxiety, even a little.

“I mean, I’ve met them in passing,” Jeremy was saying, “but this is different, you know?”

“Oh, I know,” Dad said. There was definitely a story there, but Jeremy was not in the mindset to ask about it. He made a mental note to ask about it some other time.

“Like, it’s officially as Michael’s boyfriend now! What if they thought I was okay as a person but think I’m horrible as a boyfriend?” Jeremy asked frantically. “I mean, Logan seems to be taking it well, so I’m not too worried about that. But—”

“Wait, who’s Logan?” Jeremy paused.

“Um. Michael’s son?” Jeremy’s uncertainty about telling his dad made it came out more like a question. Dad let out a low whistle.

“And you guys told the kid already?”

Jeremy flushed a little, thinking of the make-out session Logan had accidentally walked in on. Thank god it had been when it was, though. If would have been absolutely mortifying if they’d walked in when— Jeremy shook the thought away. “Um, not purposefully.”

Dad actually laughed at that. Jeremy couldn’t tell if he was laughing at the implication or at the way Jeremy’s voice broke (what was he, thirteen?) when he said it. Jeremy chuckled a little, too, but he didn’t find it very funny.

“That poor kid,” Dad said. 

“Yeah. He took it well, though.”

“Well, then at least you have him in your corner! That’s better than nothing.” Jeremy sighed, sinking back down onto his couch. It was a cheap hand-me-down from his grandmother and wasn’t very comfortable, but it reminded Jeremy of home and that made it special.

“Yeah, I guess.” It was nice to know that Logan wasn’t going to try to put an end to their relationship, but Jeremy was afraid that Logan’s enthusiasm would just remind Alina and Stacy about the overall situation and how this _should not be happening_.

“So, when am I going to get to meet this man?” Dad asked after a pause.

“Well, considering you live six hundred miles away, I’m thinking it’s gonna be a while,” Jeremy said dryly. Dad made a noise in the back of his throat.

“I still feel left out.”

“Aw, I’m sorry,” Jeremy said with a laugh. “Maybe we’ll FaceTime sometime, okay?” Dad seemed appeased with that and started rambling on about the football game he was watching at the moment. Jeremy wasn’t usually one for sports, but he found it was a nice distraction to hear his dad just talk. It was definitely a change of pace, that was for sure.

By the time Jeremy hung up the phone, he’d almost forgotten what he’d been so worked up about. Almost. There was still a small, ever-present knot in his stomach, but it was a lot smaller than it had been.

This dinner… Michael seemed okay with it, which had to be a good sign, right? But what if his moms hated Jeremy? What if they disapproved because Jeremy was Logan’s teacher and that made it a conflict of interest and then they went to the principal and Jeremy lost his job and had to move back in with his dad in Michigan and then they’d have to break up and—

God, the anxiety was back in full force. Jeremy closed his eyes, taking slow, deep breaths. It didn’t help much, but it gave him something to focus on. After five longs breaths, his phone buzzed. Jeremy picked his phone up from the arm of the couch, smiling when he saw Michael’s name. He almost snorted when he saw what Michael had said.

**Michael** : you’re freaking out, aren’t you

**Me** : no

**Michael** : liar

**Me** : can u read minds or smth??

**Michael** : nah. sorry about dropping that on you, tho

**Michael** : stacy says it’s our fault for getting caught 

**Me** : we didn’t get caught on purpose…………

**Michael** : it won’t be so bad, i promise

**Michael** : hey, you wanna meet at the diner on main st?

—

Jeremy felt slightly self-conscious in his old Apocalypse of the Damned T-shirt, but he’d practically run out the door without even thinking of changing before meeting Michael. Apparently he’d been hanging out with Jake and his friend Christine and they’d agreed to stay and keep an eye on Logan. Jeremy couldn’t help but feel a little surge of something (pride? happiness? smugness?) that Michael had chosen to hang out with him over his friends.

The diner was pretty deserted at that time of night, so Jeremy had no trouble finding a parking spot. He felt a small thrill course through him when he spotted Michael already inside and seated. He almost forgot to be embarrassed by his T-shirt as he walked up behind Michael, tapping on his shoulder gently before sliding into the booth.

Michael was already beaming at him, which made Jeremy feel all warm and happy on the inside.

“Hey,” Michael said softly. He foot bumped Jeremy’s under the table. Jeremy kicked back softly.

“Hey,” he repeated. 

“I like your shirt,” Michael said, nodding towards it. Jeremy instinctively looked down at it and groaned. 

“I was in a hurry,” he said.

“It looks good on you,” Michael insisted. Jeremy snorted, disbelieving. “It does!”

“This is some shitty old thing I found at a garage sale when I was fifteen,” Jeremy argued. “No one could look good in it. Well, maybe you.” Michael rolled his eyes at that. Jeremy couldn’t help but imagine. The shirt had always been baggy on him, so it might fit Michael’s larger frame quite nicely. Jeremy suspected it would look good on him, holes and ketchups stains and all. Though, to be fair, Michael would look good in a paper sack. (Not that Jeremy would tell him that. How mortifying would that be?)

The waitress came over just then to take their order. She was a teenager, popping some bubblegum loudly, but seemed friendly enough. They both ordered drinks and some fries to split and she walked away. Jeremy hadn’t realized he’d tensed until she walked away.

“You okay?” Michael clearly noticed. Jeremy nodded.

“Just on edge.”

“It’s really going to be okay,” Michael said. “My moms aren’t that scary, I promise.” Jeremy chuckled a little.

“I don’t know about that. I bet Alina can be pretty scary if she wants.”

“Nah, it’s Stacy you gotta look out for,” Michael retorted. “She looks weak, but she’ll rip your eyes right out.” Jeremy laughed weakly, knowing it was just a joke, but still. Now he couldn’t help but imagine Stacy attacking him in a restaurant full of people. Michael reached out and grabbed Jeremy’s hand across the table. “Hey, I’m just kidding. My moms already think you’re a great teacher and a great person. They just want to know you more… officially.”

“I’ll try to stop freaking out,” Jeremy promised, squeezing Michael’s hand. A smile grew over his face as he added, “And hey, my dad said something about wanting to FaceTime and meet you, too. Maybe we can do it after dinner on Sunday?”

Jeremy busted out laughing as Michael paled.

They stayed there for over an hour, going through three plates of fries and two coffees each before Michael suggested they switch to water. Jeremy agreed, knowing he was going to be awake all night now anyway. He and caffeine never really mixed all that well. Not after the Mountain Dew incident in high school.

By the time Jeremy kissed Michael goodbye and headed home, he was almost feeling good about Sunday. Almost.

—

Brooke had told Jeremy more than once that blue was “his” color, but he was severely doubting that as he got dressed for dinner on Sunday. He was wearing a light blue button-up his dad had bought him for work, but wearing it much more formally than he would for his second-graders. He held up a striped blue-and-white tie as he stood in front of the mirror, contemplating.

Finally, he texted Brooke, Rich, and Michael (all separately) for their opinion.

**Me** : tie or no tie??

Michael responded immediately. His response made Jeremy blush all the way to his ears.

**Michael** : god you’d look hot in a tie. def yes

**Rich** : tie gives off teacher vibes, so no

And there he was, with no definite answer. Brooke would have been the deciding vote, but Jeremy doubted she would respond. Maybe she wouldn’t rat him out, but he didn’t think she’d really help him with his relationship. Which meant he was really surprised when she _did_ , in fact, text back.

**Brooke** : yes to the tie

Jeremy smiled softly and looped the tie around his neck.

Weirdly, he felt like he was going to a school dance or something. The last time he’d gotten so dressed up was his senior prom (even though he didn’t have a date… it hadn’t been a fun night). He tried to smooth down his hair, but it insisted on being fluffy. Not a great look, but there wasn’t much he could do about it.

His phone buzzed one final time as he grabbed his keys to head out the door.

**Rich** : good luck today, jer. i promise it’ll be cool.

Jeremy sent back a text saying thanks, but it didn’t truly convey how much that meant to him. Jeremy wasn’t used to having a best friend. Especially not one like Rich.

Jeremy tried to turn on some music in the car as he drove, but ended up just turning it off. He took some deep breaths, trying to keep himself from spiraling yet again. Michael would be there. Logan would be there. Logan liked Jeremy. There was no reason to freak out.

The restaurant was an upscale steakhouse that Jeremy had passed by many times since he’d moved to New Jersey. It was a chain place and while Jeremy had never been to this one, he’d been to one back in Michigan. The interior made him feel like he was back home in Michigan, which actually helped him to relax. It was almost like he was back in his home court.

He went up to the hostess’ stand and gave Michael’s name (thank god he’d thought to ask what name the reservation would be under!). The hostess smiled brightly.

“Looks like your the first in your party to arrive. You can go ahead and follow me.” She collected five menus and a basket of rolls and led Jeremy through the maze of tables to a large, round booth in the back.

Great. Of course Jeremy had to be the first to show up. What a way to make this even more anxiety-inducing. He slid into the booth, right back into the middle, and ordered himself a water as he waited. He sent a quick text to Michael, letting him know that Jeremy was already there. He did his best to not start eating the bread until everyone else showed up.

Luckily, it wasn’t too long until the others arrived. They must have all driven together, because all four of them walked in at the exact same time. Logan spotted Jeremy first, and his face lit up. He slipped past the hostess and darted between tables to get over to Jeremy.

“Mr. Heere!” Jeremy winced a little at that, but smiled at Logan as he crawled into the booth next to him.

“Hey, Logan,” Jeremy said, ruffling Logan’s hair a little.

“You look fancy,” Logan said, tugging lightly on Jeremy’s tie. While all the adults were dressed up a bit, Logan was wearing his a more casual outfit— a green striped polo and jeans. Michael was already holding his coat.

“Well, I tried my best,” Jeremy said jokingly. He stood as best he could when Michael, Alina, and Stacy finally made it to the table. Logan followed suit.

“Hey, you can’t run off like that,” Michael chided, pointing at Logan. Logan had the grace to look sheepish.

“Mr. Heere, it’s so good to see you,” Stacy said kindly, sliding in on Jeremy’s right.

“It’s great to see you, too,” Jeremy said as Stacy gave him a small hug and a kiss on the cheek. He greeted Alina as well, shaking her hand across Stacy. “And, uh, you can call me Jeremy, if you don’t mind.”

They all sat down. Michael sat on Logan’s other side, smiling at Jeremy over his head. Jeremy smiled back, though his was a lot more nervous. The air was slightly awkward and Jeremy, sitting in the very middle, felt the full force of it.

The waitress came just then to take drink orders, which broke up the tension a bit. Jeremy just kept with his water, while everyone else ordered pop. Jeremy was a little surprised when Logan ordered a Sprite, but Michael just shrugged.

“It’s a special occasion,” he said. Alina coughed pointedly at that, but neither of them spoke up about it.

Jeremy took a sip of his water, glancing over at Michael for help— _something_.

“So, Mom,” Michael said, “what did you have in mind for tonight?”

“Steaks, obviously,” Logan piped up. “I want that one, Dad.” He pointed at a picture of a filet mignon in the menu.

“Sure thing, bud,” Michael said, his tone making it clear Logan would not be getting the most expensive steak on the menu. Stacy snorted a little at that.

“Oh, let him get what he wants,” she said, waving her hand. “I’ll pay for it if you’re too cheap.” Michael rolled his eyes.

“He won’t know the difference, Mom.”

“So, Jeremy,” Alina said, leaning forward on her clasped hands so she could see him, “how are you liking Red Bank? You just moved here this year, right?” Jeremy nodded, grateful for something to talk about.

“Yeah, they needed a new second grade teacher really last minute,” Jeremy said, “so I only moved here about three weeks before school started.”

“Wow,” Alina said, sounding impressed.

“How did you find out about a job all the way out here?” Stacy asked, pulling a roll from the basket. Jeremy followed suit, buttering it lightly.

“Mr. Reynolds— the teacher I did my student-teaching with— has family who works in the school board out here,” Jeremy explained. “I was told he recommended me.”

“You must be a good teacher, then,” Stacy said kindly. Jeremy flushed a little, shrugging modestly.

“Mr. Heere’s the best!” Logan said. “He even makes math seem kind of interesting.”

"You like math,” Michael said, eyebrows raised. Logan rolled his eyes, very over-exaggerated.

“I’m _good_ at math. That doesn’t mean I like it.” They all laughed.

“And you can call him Jeremy when you’re not at school, like we talked about, okay?” Michael said, lower. Logan nodded.

“Right.”

The tension seemed to ease after that. Jeremy asked about Stacy and Alina and their jobs and they asked about his parents (Jeremy was slightly embarrassed when Logan announced to the whole table how they both had moms who left— but it was clearly important to Logan that they had that in common). They ordered their food, with Stacy pointedly ordering Logan a filet before Michael could say otherwise. 

Logan chatted for a while about his friends at school and the painting he made in art class. Alina asked how Logan was doing in school. Jeremy did his best to answer honestly without turning it into an impromptu parent-teacher conference.

Michael excused himself to go to the restroom after a while and Jeremy was surprised that he wasn’t immediately struck with panic at the thought of Michael leaving him alone there. Logan barely even noticed his dad had left, too busy talking everyone’s ear off about how Jordan had shown him a new TV show the day before.

Alina wrinkled her nose at the sound of the TV show. “Is that age appropriate?” She asked doubtfully. Logan shrugged.

“Jordan’s mom lets him watch it,” he replied.

“Uh-huh,” Alina said, not buying it. “I guess I’ll just have to check it out myself.”

“You probably wouldn’t like it,” Logan said quickly. Jeremy chuckled, shaking his head. Their conversation was cut off with the waitress showing up with a large platter of their food. Logan beamed down at his steaming steak, poking at it with his fork.

Jeremy started to cut into his own steak before he noticed Logan waiting patiently.

“Oh, if you want to hand me Logan’s, I’ll cut it,” Alina said. Jeremy waved a hand.

“I can do it,” he said. “Do you mind?” He asked Logan. Logan shrugged, pushing the plate closer to Jeremy. Jeremy cut it into small bites, not quite sure how small they needed to be.

“I’m not a baby,” Logan reminded him, just as Michael returned. If Jeremy hadn’t known better, he would have thought that Michael was beaming at the sight of Jeremy caring for his son. Jeremy figured he was just happy the night was going well.

The rest of the night went so well, Jeremy couldn’t even believe it. Logan seemed to have a great time and Jeremy even managed to make both Stacy and Alina laugh! It felt like a miracle.

Michael walked Jeremy over to his car, hand-in-hand.

“So, that wasn’t so bad,” Michael said lightly, swinging their arms a little. Jeremy smiled.

“Definitely not as bad as I thought it would be.”

“I think Logan’s more excited about all this than we are,” Michael added, looking back at his moms and Logan. Logan was craning his head to watch them on the other side of the parking lot. Jeremy followed his gaze, laughing a little.

“That’s a good thing, though.” Michael nodded in agreement.

“It’s definitely a good sign.” They made it to Jeremy’s car. “Well, I guess this is it for tonight.”

“I guess so.” Jeremy leaned in to kiss Michael softly, holding both of his hands tight. In the distance, they just heard a small voice go, “Ewww!” 

They both broke into laughter, Jeremy’s head falling into the crook of Michael’s neck.

“I’d better go,” Michael said through his laughs.

“Goodnight.” Michael kissed Jeremy on the cheek quickly before jogging across the parking lot. 

Jeremy climbed into his car, a smile permanently etched across his cheeks. It had been such a good night. And it gave him a good feeling, that maybe he and Michael really could do this.

Feeling like a teenage girl, Jeremy called Rich to talk his ear off about his night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And at long last, another chapter!! I'm very sorry for the long wait-- it's been a weird/stressful few weeks with me graduating college and not being able to find any sort of job :) Still, I'm going to try very hard to get this story written for you guys! I'm really hoping that since I'm going to see the show this summer (!!!!), that will help me stay excited about these fics.
> 
> Please drop me a comment and a kudos, if you don't mind! I promise they will help me stay constant with this fic <3


	18. Chapter 18

Jeremy got to the school the same time as always, still buzzing over how great the night before had gone. So long as Logan didn’t start blabbing or calling him Jeremy in front of everyone, they’d be fine. And he wasn’t even stressing at all! He was in the absolute best mood he could possibly be in.

Which is why it had to go to shit right away. Because that’s just the way the universe worked, at least for Jeremy. 

He was tidying up, flipping the chairs down from on top of the desks (the janitors vacuumed over the weekends). He even hummed a little. It wasn’t until the third knock that he realized someone was at his classroom door. He turned quickly, eyebrows furrowed. It was still too early for students to arrive, even for early-birds like Lucy and her mom. He opened the door to a puzzling scene. It was the school secretary and a young woman Jeremy didn’t recognize.

“Uh, hello?” He said uncertainly. The secretary, Mrs. Latimer, did not smile. Her wrinkled face was set in a cool expression and she nodded once.

“Mr. Heere,” she said in greeting, “I need you to come with me. If you could show Ms. Jacobs your lesson plan for the day, she will be subbing while you’re gone.”

“Gone?” Jeremy echoed. “Where am I going?” His good mood was fading, but he wasn’t tensing. Yet. Still, he felt cautious. This was weird.

“Just a meeting, no need to worry. We’re not sure how long it will last, so Ms. Jacobs will sub for as long as she’s needed.”

“You don’t need to worry, Mr. Heere,” Ms. Jacobs said earnestly. “I’m great with kids. And I’ll take notes on how everyone behaves for you.”

“Uh, thanks.” Almost numb with confusion, Jeremy led Ms. Jacobs to his desk and showed her the outline for the day’s lessons. She promised him once more that the kids would be just fine with her teaching and then waved him off. He felt very unsettled seeing her sit in his chair, behind his desk.

“What’s this meeting about?” Jeremy asked Mrs. Latimer as he followed her through the empty halls toward the front office.

“I wasn’t told.” She spoke carefully in a way that said she definitely knew what was up and it wasn’t good. Jeremy practically felt his stomach drop to his toes. He was quiet for the rest of the walk. It really wasn’t that far from his classroom to the front office, but it felt like an eternity. It was like he was a kid and had been sent to the principal’s office without even knowing what for.

They stepped into the front office and Jeremy noticed right away that the principal’s door was open. Oh, no.

“Right this way, Mr. Heere.” Mrs. Latimer took him right into the principal’s office.

Jeremy was thrown off when he saw Mrs. Greene sitting in one of the chairs in front of the principal’s desk. Had she complained about him? What could he have done to cause her to go to the principal about him? He always treated his kids fairly, and he hadn’t had any issues with Lucy lately. He wracked his brain, but he couldn’t think of anything that Mrs. Greene would have had a problem with.

Mr. Anderson, the principal, smiled ruefully. “Jeremy, if you wouldn’t mind having a seat.” He gestured to the seat next to Mrs. Greene. Jeremy sank down carefully.

“So, what’s this all about?” Jeremy asked, tugging on his long sleeve. “Mrs. Latimer didn’t say.”

Mrs. Greene looked at him, her expression cloudy. She didn’t seem mad, per se, but… conflicted?

“Mrs. Greene came in this morning with some concerns,” Mr. Anderson explained. “I just thought we should talk about them and get to the bottom of the issue.”

“And that issue would be…?” Jeremy asked.

“I saw you,” Mrs. Greene said stiffly, dropping her gaze to her hands clasped in her lap. “At the restaurant last night.”

Jeremy felt all the blood drain from his face. Oh god.

“I just thought it would be nice to say hi,” she went on, talking to her lap. Her blonde hair fell across her shoulders, blocking her from Jeremy’s view. Jeremy’s hands curled into fists, nails digging into his palms. His heart felt like it might beat right out of his chest. “And then I noticed you weren’t alone.”

“We’re not accusing you of anything,” Mr. Anderson cut in. “But it seemed that you were out to dinner with one of your students and his family.”

“Logan’s always been his favorite,” Mrs. Greene said softly.

“That’s— that’s not true,” Jeremy spluttered. “Logan likes me and likes to talk a lot, but I’m not— I don’t have _favorites_.”

“That’s good to hear,” Mr. Anderson said, leaning back in his chair. “But I assume you don’t go out with all of your students and their families?”

“I should go get Lucy so she’s not late for school,” Mrs. Greene said suddenly, standing. She glanced at Jeremy, looking almost regretful. “I’ll leave you to it.” She buried right out the office.

“I’m willing to hear your side of the story,” Mr. Anderson said. He didn’t look like he was accusing Jeremy of breaking the rules, but it still felt like he was. “Mrs. Greene had her own idea of what was transpiring and was unsettled by it, but I’d like to hear what you have to say.”

Jeremy didn’t like that word— unsettled. There were so many connotations that it could have and he didn’t like any of them. But he shoved that from his head and had to think quick. Should he lie? He wasn’t a good liar; Mr. Anderson would see right through him. Did that mean he should tell the truth?

“I—” Jeremy started, but stopped quickly. “I don’t know what to say,” he finally said, truthful. Mr. Anderson looked disappointed.

“You were aware of all the rules of this job,” he said, “including the no-dating-parents rule. And if you’re not offering an alternate reason for being out with a student’s entire family… I can’t help but assume it’s because you’ve broken that rule.”

Jeremy didn’t say anything, but his silence spoke volumes.

—

Jeremy was sent home for the rest of the day. He felt worse than he’d felt in years. It almost didn’t feel real. Like the last hour in Mr. Anderson’s office had just been a bad dream. But no, it was real. It was very real, and Jeremy didn’t know what to do.

Mr. Anderson had been very kind, which was unexpected. Disappointed, but kind. But he’d finally said that rules are rules. He gave Jeremy an ultimatum. In order to keep his job, he had to stop seeing Michael. If they were caught together in any capacity outside school or school functions, Jeremy would lose his job on the spot. 

“Once Logan Mell is no longer in your class and in your care, you’re free to date him if you so choose. But until then, you cannot see him. It’s a conflict of interest. You can’t be playing favorites, or grading easier, or else prioritizing Logan over the rest of your students. I know you may feel otherwise, but dating his parent inherently makes that impossible not to do.”

Jeremy had until tomorrow to give Mr. Anderson his answer.

Two months ago, the choice was obvious. Jeremy was just starting out in the world. He lived six hundred miles away from anyone he knew. This was really his only career option. He couldn’t give that up. He couldn’t.

But he’d fallen hard for Michael. These past few weeks with Michael had been the literal best of his life. It felt just as impossible to give him up as it did to give up his job. And he knew deep down that it wouldn’t work to try to wait until June, when Logan was finally out of his class. It would hurt too much to keep that hope for seven more months. It would ruin their relationship before it could really truly begin.

Jeremy flopped down on his bed as soon as he got home. He didn’t bother to change out of his work clothes or even take off his shoes. He just laid back, rubbing his eyes hard. He didn’t know what to do— what to think, even. He didn’t have anyone to talk to. He couldn’t go to his dad with something like this— they never really talked to each other about emotions. He’d try to explain it to his dad and his dad wouldn’t understand and would say to pick his job. Brooke and Rich were both working, so he couldn’t talk to them. He knew what Brooke would say, anyway. She’d been saying it the whole time. Rich— Jeremy had no idea what Rich would say. Rich had been all for the secret dating, but now that had blown up in their faces.

And Michael—

Jeremy couldn’t even think about it.

He sighed loudly. He sat up, deciding he needed to distract himself for a little while. Maybe the impossible decision would feel less impossible after a little time. Kicking his shoes off and changing into something a little more comfortable, Jeremy started cleaning. He hadn’t done a proper clean of the apartment since he moved in, so he was due anyway. And hey, procrastination-cleaning was the most effective kind.

He lost track of time while he cleaned. He hadn’t even realized that the entire school day had gone by until there was a loud knock on his front door.

Jeremy put down the magic eraser he’d been cleaning with, washed his hands really quick, and then went to answer the door. He blinked when he saw Michael on the other side.

“Hi,” he said softly. Michael furrowed his eyebrows, looking concerned.

“Hey. I called, but you didn’t answer.” Jeremy frowned, stepping back to let Michael inside.

“I’m… not sure where my phone is. I’ve been cleaning,” he said, as if that explained everything.

“Are you okay?” Michael asked, placing a hand on Jeremy’s elbow. “Logan said you had a sub today. I was worried.”

Like a tidal wave, everything that had happened that morning came crashing back down. Jeremy swallowed hard.

“They— um, they sort of made me take the day off?” Jeremy said uncertainly. If anything, Michael looked more concerned at that.

“What’s wrong?” He asked. He dropped his hand down from Jeremy’s elbow to grab his hand tightly.

“Where’s Logan?” Jeremy asked, squeezing Michael’s hand tightly. He wanted to cling to Michael and never let go, no matter how impossible that seemed.

“Ryan’s.” Michael rolled his eyes a little, but went on. “Luckily, Tammy doesn’t mind having Logan over when I need someone else to watch him. But that doesn’t answer my question, Jer.” Michael’s tone was soft, careful. Jeremy wondered just how crazed he must have looked right then.

“We should sit.” They sat on Jeremy’s small couch, right next to each other. Jeremy refused to let go of Michael’s hand and fixed his gaze on their interlocked fingers.

“A parent… saw us at the restaurant last night,” Jeremy explained lowly. It was hard to say. Even if he didn’t want to admit it, he knew where this was going. “And she went to Mr. Anderson.”

“You lost your job?” Michael asked, sounding horrified at the thought. Jeremy shook his head.

“He went easy on me. He’s giving me a second chance.” He couldn’t say it. He couldn’t.

Michael was quiet for what felt like a very long time, but was probably no longer than thirty seconds. “But we can’t be together.”

“I’d lose my job right away if we were ever together outside of a school setting.”

“Oh.”

Jeremy felt tears prick his eyes, hot and painful. “I want to be with you,” he said thickly, looking up at Michael for the first time since they’d sat down, “so, so much. I could— I could try to find a job somewhere else or—” Michael just shook his head.

“It would follow you. A forcible termination so close to the beginning of the year? It’d ruin your entire teaching career.” Jeremy knew he was right. He shook his head anyway.

“I don’t care. I don’t. I’ve been thinking about it all day and I just— I can’t stand the thought of not being with you, Michael. I— I care more about that than this job. I can figure something else out.”

“No,” Michael said strongly, meeting Jeremy’s gaze. Jeremy wasn’t the only one tearing up. It made it so much worse to see Michael on the brink of tears. “This is your job. You gave up everything for this. You can’t give it all up for me. I won’t let you,” he added when Jeremy tried to interrupt. “You’re career is more important than a guy you met three months ago.”

Jeremy surged forward, kissing Michael hard. He kissed him with everything he had. Michael kissed back just as desperately, winding his hands deep into Jeremy’s hair. Jeremy tried to pour every ounce of feeling he had into the kiss, to show Michael just how much he meant to him. To show him how much this hurt.

Michael was the one to pull back, much too soon. He looked devastated.

“I guess that’s it, then,” he said hoarsely. “I should go pick up Logan.”

“Michael—”

“Bye, Jeremy.” Michael left before Jeremy could protest. The door shut with a heartbreaking finality.

Jeremy held out for three seconds before he started to cry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhhh.... leave a comment telling me what you think?


	19. Chapter 19

Jeremy couldn’t sleep at all that night. He felt like absolute crap and it kept him up all night long. By four o’clock in the morning, he gave up trying to sleep and made himself a snack. The late-night turkey sandwich did nothing to make him feel better. It just left him sitting at his kitchen table with only the refrigerator light illuminating him, crying.

He’d barely remembered to email Mr. Anderson that evening, saying that he’d chosen his job. Well, chosen might not have been the right word. But Mr. Anderson didn’t know and probably didn’t care about the agony the decision had wrought through Jeremy.

Jeremy woke up to the faint sound of his alarm going off in his bedroom and a crick in his neck. He’d somehow fallen asleep at the kitchen table, slumped over his half-eaten sandwich. He groaned, flinching when he tried to turn his head. Great. Today was getting off to a great start.

He threw the rest of the sandwich in the garbage and trudged to his bedroom to turn off the alarm on his phone. He had half a mind to try to call in sick, but he hated to make the kids have a substitute two days in a row. That meant he had to get his shit together and get ready for work.

Forty-five minutes later and he was ready to go. The hot water from the shower had helped his neck, but otherwise his day wasn’t looking up. His hair was still wet when he got to school, and it was so cold outside that he was pretty much guaranteed to get a head cold by the end of the week.

Things almost felt normal once he was in his classroom. He looked over the note Ms. Jacobs had left for him (apparently Ryan, Kyle, and Logan had all acted out in the morning, but had improved by lunchtime) and decided to get a head start on grading the worksheets from yesterday. He got lost in the mindless grading, barely even noticing as kids slowly began to fill the room. A few called out hello to him and he smiled and greeted them.

There was a light tug on his shirt after a few minutes and he looked up to see Ellie looking up at him with big eyes.

“Good morning,” he said kindly.

“You weren’t here yesterday,” she stated plainly. He nodded, sucking in a deep breath. His small reprieve hadn’t lasted long.

“No, I wasn’t, but I’m here now.” It had been the first day of the school year that he’d missed, so he supposed it was understandable that the kids might have been concerned. If it hadn’t been for such an awful reason, Jeremy would feel touched that they cared so much. Instead, it just reminded him _why_ he wasn’t there.

“You won’t miss again?” She asked. Jeremy knew she was uncomfortable around people she didn’t know. She looked anxious at the thought of a stranger teaching the class.

“I’ll do my best,” he said evasively. He didn’t want to promise anything, but he didn’t want to upset her either. She accepted that answer with a nod. “Now, it looks like we’re gonna be getting started soon, so why don’t you head to your seat?”

Jeremy scanned the room for empty seats so he knew who to mark absent. His stomach sank when he realized that only one student was missing that morning. Logan.

That could not be a good sign.

He did his best to make the day as normal for the kids as he could, but it was hard to concentrate, especially every time his eyes landed on Logan’s empty chair. It made his stomach twist painfully. The kids were a little more talkative than usual, probably because Jeremy wasn’t working as hard to keep them on task, but all in all it wasn’t a terrible morning. All things considered, at least. 

After he dropped the kids off at the cafeteria for lunch, Jeremy realized that he’d forgotten to bring his own lunch today. Honestly, it had been the absolute last thing on his mind that morning. And although his stomach growled, he didn’t feel like eating. But he didn’t want to go back to his classroom, either. Brooke and Rich would come looking for him when he didn’t show up in the teacher’s lounge, and he really didn’t feel up to seeing them.

He hid out in his car, feeling strangely reminiscent of his senior year of high school. He’d eaten lunch in his car most days. It was mostly to avoid the cafeteria and the kids who bullied him, but it had turned his car into a nice reprieve. Now, it felt more like a prison.

Jeremy ignored his phone when it buzzed, more than once. First it was Brooke, then Rich. He didn’t even pick it up to dismiss the notifications. He didn’t care.

The day continued in its usual shitty fashion by Jeremy being late to pick up his kids from recess. He hadn’t been watching the time closely enough and had only realized it was time to pick up his class when it was one o’clock on the dot. Fuck. The recess monitors probably all hated him now.

By the time the day was over, Jeremy was ready to crawl back in bed. He barely waited until Lacey was finally picked up by her mother before he was slinging his bag over his shoulder and shutting the door behind him.

Maybe he was being overdramatic. Maybe he was taking this break-up too harshly. But he didn’t care. His heart was crushed and Jeremy just could not take it.

—

**Rich** : dude are you out sick again?

**Rich** : jer what’s up?

**Brooke** : jeremy? is everything alright?

**Rich** : dude

**Rich** : can you just text me back something?? anything??

**Brooke** : i’m worried about you, jeremy. rich is, too.

**Brooke** : you know we’re both here for you, right?

…

**Brooke** : i can bring you some soup if you’re sick.

**Rich** : i will beat your fucking door down if you don’t respond

**Me** : i’m fine, guys

—

Jeremy was not fine.

The next day felt just as awful as yesterday had. Jeremy felt more and more inclined to call in sick. He’d literally had his phone in his hands before the thought of Ellie popped into his head. He couldn’t do that to her. The other kids, too, but Ellie had it the worst with strangers. So, he put his big boy pants on and got dressed for another day at work. Maybe he’d be able to ignore his own drama for once.

Yeah, right.

He barely got to his classroom on time. There was already a large portion of his students and their parents waiting outside his door when he arrived. He apologized quickly, unlocking the door to let everyone inside.

He internally kicked himself. He needed to get his shit together, at least for his kids. He could be as miserable as he wanted, but fuck it if he was going to let it affect his students’ learning. He practically tossed his messenger bag onto his desk chair and walked around the room, purposefully saying ‘good morning’ to everyone he could.

He only paused when he heard a loud, familiar voice echoing from the hallway.

“I don’t want to!” Logan shouted, sounding very whiny. “I wanna go home!”

Well, shit. Looked like Jeremy wasn’t going to be able to force this into a decent day after all.

Once Stacy managed to coax Logan through the door and into the classroom, the day was practically ruined. Logan’s face was red, his eyes rimmed in a way that showed he’d been crying. He looked utterly pissed, especially when he and Jeremy made eye contact.

Stacy looked conflicted. She gave an awkward little wave before ducking out the door. Jeremy sighed. He knew he needed to be the grown-up. He needed to try to make this as normal as possible for Logan. So, he walked over to Logan as he harshly shoved his lunchbox and backpack into his cubby.

“Hey, Logan,” Jeremy said, trying to sound cheerful. “We missed you yesterday.”

Logan didn’t turn. “Uh-huh.”

Jeremy sighed. “Can we try to have a good day? We have some fun activities going on for history and science today.” Well, they would if he rearranged this week’s schedule. That wouldn’t be too hard, right?

“Whatever.” Logan quite literally shoved past Jeremy, without even looking at him, and walked over to his desk. He ignored Ryan and Kyle both when they tried to speak to him.

Jeremy swallowed hard. It hurt him even more to see how hard Logan was taking this. It would be hard for any kid to get used to their parent dating someone new and then they break up, but Logan had to see Jeremy five days a week. Not to mention, he probably didn’t fully understand the situation, which made it even harder on him.

The day turned into a total nightmare at that point. Jeremy had forgotten how awful Logan could be if he really put his mind to it. He repeatedly threw his pencils and erasers around the room. He actually knocked Lucy in the head with an eraser, making her cry. He lost recess for that. He refused to do any work and argued loudly whenever Jeremy tried to convince him to try.

“If you don’t start behaving, I’m going to have to call your dad,” Jeremy threatened, though his voice faltered a little. Logan glared harshly through his lenses.

“I don’t think you will,” he said snottily, crossing his arms. Jeremy hesitated and Logan gave him a nasty grin, knowing he’d called Jeremy’s bluff.

“That’s recess for the rest of the week gone,” Jeremy said. “You need to start your worksheet now, or you’ll lose next week’s, too.” Only then did Logan put pencil to paper. Jeremy wouldn’t discover until later that he just scribbled over the whole thing instead of doing any actual work. But honestly, as long as he wasn’t distracting the other students, Jeremy counted it as a win. For now, at least.

Instead of making Logan sit in the classroom with him, which would have been extra torturous for them both, Jermey managed to convince one of the nicer recess monitors to make Logan sit next to her for recess.

“Just this once,” she said strongly. Jeremy nodded gratefully. He just hoped Logan would behave better for her than he was for Jeremy right now.

Jeremy spent his lunch break in his car again, phone in hand. He ignored Rich and Brooke’s texts again, though they both only texted once this time. He knew that calling the parent was protocol when a child was acting up as much as Logan was, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Not so soon.

With a sinking feeling, he was kind of seeing more of the reasons why the no-dating-parents rule was in place. The relationship, even when it was over, changed the entire dynamic. Jeremy couldn’t even report Logan’s behavior issues properly!

And the sucky part was that all Jeremy wanted to do was call Michael. Michael would make this all feel so silly, would make him feel better. And that thought made him feel so much worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow, i suck! a super long wait and then a slightly short chapter? i really suck. but here it is, at long last!! so sorry about the wait, but i promise this story isn't abandoned. we're so close to the end! so close, yet so far. i promise i'll do my best to update more regularly lmao
> 
> also, this is very emo. it's going to be emo for a while, so apologies for that.
> 
> uuuhhhh leave some kudos and a comment??? please???


	20. Chapter 20

Jeremy tried to slip out without Rich or Brooke catching him again, but to no avail. Brooke was waiting outside her classroom, ready to pounce. She grabbed Jeremy by the arm, alarmingly tight, and pulled until he was facing her.

The concerned look on her face broke Jeremy’s heart. He grimaced a little, averting his gaze from hers. He couldn’t pull his arm free and run off like he wanted, not with students and parents still filling the halls. It would make too much of a scene. And the last thing Jeremy needed right then was to make a scene.

“Jeremy,” she said softly. So softly that none of the eavesdropping PTA moms nearby could hear. So soft it made Jeremy feel even more like shit. “Are you okay? Rich and I have been worried—”

“I’m fine,” Jeremy said quickly. Brooke’s grip on his arm did not give. “I swear.”

“Then what is up with you?” She asked, eyebrows knitting together. She wasn’t buying it. Jeremy had never been a great liar.

“Mrs. Lohst?” Luckily for Jeremy, one of Brooke’s first graders came up and tugged on her skirt, successfully pulling her attention from Jeremy. Unluckily for Jeremy, Brooke didn’t loosen her grip on his elbow even with the distraction. He was forced to stand there awkwardly, waving at kids and parents that he recognized in the hall.

Brooke was adorable with her students. She knelt down to be the same height as the young girl, smiling kindly as the kid stuttered through her question. It was easy to see why Brooke worked so well with such young kids.

Jeremy averted his quickly to the ground when he saw Alina walking down the hall, Logan’s hand in hers. Logan did not look happy. He stomped and whined loudly, and Jeremy could imagine how he was probably pulling to escape Alina’s grasp. The kid was surprisingly strong.

“Mr. Heere?” Oh, god. Did the universe just truly hate Jeremy?

Alina stood in front of him when he raised his head. Logan, still in her grasp, was pulling and twisting as much as he could to be as far from Jeremy as possible. Alina looked… sad. There was no other way to describe it.

“Can I go to the car?” Logan whined loudly. Alina sighed, turning to him.

“If you’re not at the car when I get there, you’ll be in big trouble, young man.” She released his arm and Logan bolted down the hallway. At least three different teachers yelled at him to walk. Jeremy was not one of them.

“Sorry about him,” Alina said, attempting to keep her voice light. “He’s been… taking all of this pretty hard.”

“I noticed,” Jeremy replied a little stiffly. Through the rushing in his ears, he heard Brooke call someone over and start speaking to someone else. Perhaps to give him a little privacy without the chance to escape.

Alina sighed again. “I figured you wouldn’t want to call Michael if he was acting out, so if you want to tell me…”

Jeremy shook his head. “He wasn’t that bad today,” he lied. “He wasn’t an angel, but he wasn’t very distracting.” Alina blinked in surprise.

“Oh, okay, then. Good.” She seemed like she was going to say more, but changed her mind at the last second. “I should get to the car before he wanders off.” Jeremy nodded shortly, desperate to escape this situation. He half felt like the walls were closing in around him. He hardly even noticed when she finally walked away.

“Jer?” He shook his head, turning to see Rich next to him, arm on his elbow to mirror Brooke. God, even Rich looked so fucking _concerned_. It made Jeremy feel even worse. He must have looked pretty wrecked, because Rich didn’t push him further and instead gently led the three of them out of the building. He smoothly slipped through the still-crowded halls. Teachers were supposed to stay for a little while after school ended, but evidently today was taking a different turn. Desperate times.

Jeremy hardly noticed when Rich guided him into the passenger seat of his car. There was a roaring in Jeremy’s ears.

He fixated on the awful, saddened look on Alina’s face. On Logan’s angry gaze. His smug little “I don’t think you will”. The devastated look on Michael’s face when he saw him last. He didn’t realize he was crying until the car stopped moving and Brooke squeezed his shoulders from the backseat lightly.

He doubled forward. Brooke’s soft gesture opened the floodgates fully and the tearing came pouring harder than rain. He didn’t even try to wipe the tears. He just balled his hands into tight fists as the sobs wracked his thin frame.

“You’re not fine,” Rich said softly. Almost uncharacteristically, he grabbed Jeremy’s left hand, wormed his fingers inside the fist, and held it gently. His thumb rubbed the back of Jeremy’s hand lightly. Back and forth. Back and forth. Jeremy let himself concentrate on that rhythm as the sobs slowly abided, though the tears never halted. His shoulders shook. 

“It’s gonna be okay, Jeremy,” Brooke murmured. She was rubbing his shoulder still. Jeremy just shook his head.

“So,” Rich said after a silent moment of Jeremy’s sobs. “Alcohol?”

—

Jeremy stared down into his half-full glass of Miller beer. It was his second of the afternoon. He’d surprised Brooke and Rich when he’d tearfully ordered it instead of his usual rum and Coke. He really only drank beer when he was feeling particularly down. 

Brooke and Rich had waited until he’d finished the first drink before gently prodding him for details. Rich was surprisingly cautious about upsetting him. Jeremy had swiftly ordered another beer, taken one large gulp, and told them everything. They had quietly listened even when his words were unintelligible through his tears. When he was finished, Brooke was kind enough not to say ‘I told you so’. Jeremy knew he deserved it.

He’d hurt so many people because he hadn’t listened to her. Michael, Logan, hell even Alina and Stacy. Himself, not that _he_ mattered much right now. So many hearts hurt and broken because Jeremy had selfishly ignored Brooke’s warnings and just done whatever he wanted.

“I know what you’re doing, Jeremy,” Brooke said. It was the first thing she’d said since he’d begun speaking. “And you need to stop it right now.”

Jeremy said nothing. There were hardly any bubbles left in his beer.

“What?” Rich asked, glancing over at Brooke.

“Beating yourself up about this,” she said. She grabbed Jeremy’s hand from across the table and held on tight. She squeezed tighter until he finally lifted his gaze to hers. Where his eyes were red and full of tears, hers were fierce and bright.

“It’s my fault, though,” he said thickly.

“It’s not,” Rich said quickly. “This shit happens, Jer. You’re not to blame because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Both you and Michael knew what you were getting into and what the stakes were, right? You're both adults and you both made the choice.”

“Still—”

“No,” Brooke said firmly. “Rich is right.”

“Wait, can you say that again?” Rich said, holding a hand to his ear. “I don’t think I caught that. Rich is what?”

Brooke rolled her eyes dramatically. “Fuck you, I’m not saying it again.”

“Come on,” Rich said, pouting a little. “Feed my ego.”

“Your ego is large enough, I promise you that.”

Their banter made the corners of Jeremy’s mouth twitch upwards. He’d made some pretty good choices in friends. And again, that was Brooke’s idea. Apparently Jeremy just needed to learn how to listen to her all the time. She seemed to know best.

Rich was about to say something, but he froze. He was looking at something behind Jeremy and he did not like what he was seeing. Brooke furrowed her eyebrows and then mimicked his reaction when she saw what he saw.

“What—?” Jeremy started to ask, turning himself. Immediately, both of them started talking.

“No, it’s really nothing—”

“Jer, dude, I’m just spazzing out, don’t worry—”

But Jeremy had already seen.

The slight lightening of his mood evaporated instantly. Because there, across the room, was Michael himself. His back was to Jeremy at the moment, but Jeremy knew it was him. He could recognize Michael just about anywhere, he figured. Plus, Jake Dillinger was there, too, along with a short woman who could only be the Christine Canigula that was listed on Logan’s forms alongside Jake.

Jeremy felt a million things all at once in a very confusing and overwhelming swirl inside his brain and his stomach. He felt like he was going to throw up, or pass out, or scream. Then Michael turned to look at the bar menu posted on the wall, and Jeremy got a good look at him.

Michael looked just as terrible as Jeremy felt. It had only been a few days, sure, but Jeremy hadn’t imagined _this_. He looked so tired, with dark circles under his eyes. His hair seemed like it had been half-heartedly styled and fell limply on his forehead. His tie was already untied and loosely hanging around his neck. He looked like he had been crying.

The revelation that Jeremy had made Michael cry made him wish he could be swallowed up by a hole in the floor, ceasing to exist forever.

“I have to get out of here,” Jeremy said, though his throat felt so constricted there was no telling what Brooke and Rich heard. Still, they seemed to understand because they were out of their seats in a flash. Brooke headed to the front to pay for their tab. Rich hauled Jeremy up by the elbow and managed to get him out the door without making a scene. Thank god. Michael hadn’t even known he was there. That was good.

(It was only later that Jeremy would realize he and Michael being in the same bar could have gotten him fired once and for all. Right then, he just needed to get away or else he would truly fall to pieces.)

Both Rich and Brooke went back to Jeremy’s apartment and just stayed with him. Whenever Jeremy suggested they leave (he felt so guilty taking up their time), Brooke would just insist that he shouldn’t be alone while so upset. He didn’t have the heart to say that he had been for days. He just let her put on a cheesy action film that was playing on SyFy. They all sat on the couch together, pressed close enough to be cuddling. Even when Brooke finally had to leave to go home to Chloe, Rich stayed. Jeremy couldn’t even articulate how much that meant to him.

—

That shitty thing about life is this: it goes on. Even when it feels impossible, the world keeps turning. And that means Jeremy had to keep getting out of bed in the morning and teaching twenty-five seven-year-olds all day, including Logan. Logan, who looked so much like Michael that it _hurt_. Logan, who continued to glare reproachfully at Jeremy every chance he got even as time went on. He didn’t act up as much in class (just enough to irritate Jeremy, which seemed to be the point), but the anger and hurt was ever-present in his behavior.

Jeremy internalized everything. When they asked, he would give a cliff notes version to Rich or Brooke (and once, even Chloe), but they didn’t ask much for fear of hurting him more and he never offered. He hated burdening his friends with his pain.

He’d never been through a breakup before like this, but the pain seemed never-ending. It never let up, there was never a break. It just continued to ache like a physical wound. 

Michael didn’t pick Logan up from school anymore. It was almost always Jake, who Logan never seemed to be happy to see anymore. Sometimes it was Alina, awkward as that was. And a few times, it was Christine. Jeremy pretended not to recognize her the first time she came in.

After a couple weeks, Brooke tried to convince Jeremy at lunch (he was back to eating in the teacher’s lounge) that he should let her set him up. On a date. With someone who was decidedly _not_ Michael Mell. It sounded horrendous. It sounded like torture. Then, Jeremy remembered his resolve to follow her advice from now on and he agreed, however hesitantly, to give it a try.

Brooke immediately began scrolling through her phone.

“What about Jenna Rolan?” She asked after a moment. Rich coughed harshly.

“Heteronormative much?” He asked, only half joking. Brooke rolled her eyes.

“Lesbian, remember?” She asked sharply. “Jeremy’s bi, which means more options. Besides, maybe it would be better to start out with a woman. Easier to get his mind off… the past.” Rich didn’t seem completely sold, but he didn’t say more. Jeremy didn’t mention that while he was, in fact, bisexual, he had a strong preference for guys. She was probably right, anyway. If he went out with a guy, he would probably spend the whole date comparing the guy to Michael.

The date was a bust before it even began. Jenna seemed about as enthused as he was for this date, which didn’t make it much fun at all. She was nice enough, but seemed more interested in whoever she was texting than talking to Jeremy. And Jeremy still compared the date to the fun, easygoing ones he’d had with Michael. Their lunchtime dates had always been full of conversation, laughter, and sneaky kisses when the waitress wasn’t looking. This date was full of stilted conversation, an iPhone, and asking for the check before either of them was done eating.

That evening, Jeremy pulled out his phone and texted Rich first for the first time since before The Breakup (TM).

**Me** : it’ll get better, right?

**Me** : it has to

**Rich** : it will. i don’t know when, but i promise it will

**Rich** : i’ll make sure of it

**Me** : idk how much longer i can do this

**Rich** : just a little longer

**Rich** : you want me to come over?

The rest of their night consisted of drunk video games, which was fun until they had to go deal with twenty-plus kids at eight AM the next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i would apologize for all the angst, but i am Suffering just as much as you are. but hey, only five chapters left!!


	21. Chapter 21

Jeremy was counting down the days until winter break. Four days until he had a full two weeks off. He wasn’t going home. He didn’t really have the extra money to spend on a plane ticket back to Michigan. Hanukkah was already over, anyway. It wasn’t really “holiday time” for the Heeres anymore. Besides, Jeremy didn’t think he’d be great company right now.

The day was coming to a close and Jeremy was slowly grabbing his papers that he needed to take home. He felt completely and utterly exhausted, and it was only Tuesday. He called over to tell Jordan to stop running (that boy never stopped running) and bent down to pick up his messenger bag from the floor. He was shoving the papers haphazardly into his bag when—

“Excuse me, Mr. Heere?” Jeremy bit back a harsh sigh when he heard Mrs. Greene’s all-too-familiar voice. He sat up to face her, bag still perched in his lap. He did his best not to show his contempt on his face, but he couldn’t be sure how well he succeeded. She looked almost shy in front of him. Her blonde hair fell into her face and she didn’t even swipe it back. 

“What can I do for you?” Jeremy asked stiffly. She twitched a little at his tone.

“I just wanted to double-check that the party is starting at one?”

“Party?” Jeremy echoed. His eyebrows knit together for a moment before he remembered. “Oh, right, the holiday party. That’s—”

“This Friday,” Mrs. Greene supplied. Fuck everything.

Jeremy had sent out the fliers for the class’s holiday/Christmas party right at the start of December so all the students and parents would have a lot of advance notice for whatever they were to bring in. Since he’d taken care of it so long ago (and he had so much else on his mind), he’d completely forgotten.

“Um,” Jeremy muttered, pulling open a drawer and digging until he found the green slip of paper. “Yeah, one o’clock. Right after the kids get back from recess.”

Fuck, fuck, fuck. Jeremy did not want to deal with a class party right now. The Halloween one had been kind of fun, but mostly hard work. Even with the parent volunteers, it had been hell. There was no way this one would be any better. No, it would be much worse given Jeremy’s eternal mood. He hid it well from the kids with normal school days, but a day where they wouldn’t focus all morning and then ran around like little gremlins all afternoon?

Jeremy couldn’t tell why Mrs. Greene was asking about the start time, anyway. He would bet five bucks that she had the flier on her fridge since the day Lucy brought it home. She wasn’t the kind of mom to lose something like that. So, why ask him?

“Okay, good,” she replied with a nod. She turned to walk away and then seemed to change her mind. Hesitating, she added, “If you’d like, I can come during recess and help set up?”

Slowly, Jeremy resumed stuffing his papers in his bag as he thought of a response. If he was being honest, Mrs. Greene was probably one of the last people he’d want to spend half an hour alone with decorating for a class party (the only person who’d be worse right now was Michael). But he couldn’t think of a good way to decline without it being obvious that he was angry about the whole going-to-the-principal incident. If she complained again, he’d probably be toast.

“That would be fine, if you want,” he said finally. She blinked, clearly surprised.

“Oh. Alright, great,”

“Okay, then.”

“Okay.”

Awkwardly, she finally turned and walked out the door, Lucy trailing behind. Jeremy wanted to slump forward onto his desk, but he resisted. There were still students in the room, after all. He had to keep _some_ sense of composure.

Christine Canigula was the one picking up Logan today. It was kind of cute seeing her with Logan, actually. She was so short that they were practically the same height (Logan had been growing like crazy over the last few weeks). He also seemed less upset when she was around, though he still frowned and complained that Michael wasn’t the one picking him up.

Christine sighed and ruffled Logan’s hair affectionately. 

“I know, honey, but I _think_ he said something about making spaghetti tonight!” Logan didn’t light up at the sound of his favorite dinner like Jeremy had seen before, but he did smile and looked more appeased. He even took Christine’s hand on the way out the door.

Jeremy couldn’t help but watch them on the way out. He sighed. The room began to empty out quicker until it was just Jeremy and Kelsey, once again. Grateful for the distraction, Jeremy offered to play a board game until Kelsey’s mom showed up. Kelsey chose Candyland, much to Jeremy’s surprise. Most of the kids thought it was “too babyish” and it hardly got played with at all.

Jeremy let Kelsey pick her player first and pull the first card, much to her delight. They played for half an hour until Kelsey’s mom finally came in, apologizing for being late (yet again). Jeremy just waved her off as he packed the game up and walked with them out the door.

Three more days until winter break.

—

Jeremy spent all night on Thursday trying to bake a brownie, which had been the only snack on his list that no one had volunteered to make. By the time he went to bed, his kitchen was an absolute mess, but at least there was a brownie in the fridge and ready for the morning!

Friday was exactly like Jeremy had expected (and dreaded) it to be. The kids were so excited about the party (and the cupcakes, chips, and juice that they’d all brought) that they could hardly sit still and concentrate on the day’s lessons. Jeremy had to stop three different kids from trying to sneak a cookie in the span of an hour.

Logan was surprisingly well-behaved. He was in the best mood Jeremy had seen him in since the breakup, which was really nice. Logan was such a good kid when he wanted to be. And Jeremy kind of loved to see him happy. He was even happier when Logan actually did all his work with no complaints.

Still, it was a nightmare of a morning. Jeremy felt like he was doing twice the work with half of the learning. By the time he corralled all the kids into the cafeteria with the promise of the party after recess, he was ready to pass out. He ate his lunch in the classroom so he could get started decorating without being too rushed. 

Jeremy’s room was already decorated for the winter (he’d done it right after Thanksgiving), so he really was just adding some blue and white streamers to the ceiling and a few other party-like features. He’d just broken out the bag of snowflake balloons when Mrs. Greene timidly knocked on the open classroom door. 

She took it upon herself to start setting up the food across the counter and the extra table Jeremy had set up. She got it all ready to be eaten and then started stacking plates, napkins, and cups at either end. Jeremy continued to blow up balloon after balloon. It was practically silent in the classroom.

“I’m sorry.” Mrs. Greene’s voice was soft, but it seemed so loud as it broke the silence. Jeremy’s fingers stumbled as he tried to tie the balloon, and it flew out of his hands and around the room.

He didn’t know what to say to that. “I don’t— What?” He stammered. She sighed heavily. She was still facing away from him.

“I was acting rash when I went to Mr. Anderson,” she went on, her fingers stilling on the paper cups. “I wasn’t thinking. I— I shouldn’t have done that, and I’m sorry.”

Jeremy swallowed hard before digging out another balloon and bringing it to his lips. Finally, he said, “There’s nothing that can be done now, so…”

“I’m sorry. If it’s any consolation, I regretted it as soon as I did it.”

“Yeah.” They lapsed back into awkward silence.

He didn’t know how to explain to her that he didn’t blame her. Yes, he was angry at her for ratting them out. Yes, he wished she’d kept her mouth shut, or at least spoken to him about it first. But it was _Jeremy’s_ fault in the first place, so how could he blame her? Jeremy had fucked up. Jeremy had ruined things for so many people. At least Logan seemed to be getting better, getting over it. Maybe that meant Michael was, too. He hoped so.

Mrs. Greene wordlessly helped tape the balloons to the wall and then Jeremy decided that was good enough. He still had five minutes before he needed to leave to pick up the kids, but he headed out early, anyway. Anything to escape that awkward tension.

By the time Jeremy made it back to the room with the kids, the other parent volunteers had shown up. Four other parents were in there, ready to get the party started. Mr. Kavinsky, Ms. Garcia, Mrs. Riera, and—

Michael.

Jeremy paused in shock for only half a moment before he regained composure and led the kids fully inside. The kids burst into cheer and the holiday party began in full swing. For the first half an hour, Jeremy found himself so busy that he didn’t have a chance to process the fact that Michael was here. Michael was _here_. It was the first time they were in the same room and knew it since _that_ day.

But finally, this kids settled in with the activities and food, and with the parent chaperones, and Jeremy found he didn’t have much else to do. And the panic set in. His chest constricted painfully as his eyes instinctively found Michael in the crowd. He was sitting at the desk next to Logan’s, picking at a plate of snacks. He was looking around the room, but not in Jeremy’s direction. Jeremy couldn’t help but wonder if that was purposeful or not. It made him feel even shittier when he knew that the answer was probably yes.

Jeremy eventually found himself leaning against the counter where he could see all the students in the room. Occasionally, he had to control the volume of the room and stop someone from running, but it was pretty much a hands-off time. It could have been relaxing if his head wasn’t swirling with Michael’s presence.

He’d only just realized that he didn’t know where Michael had gone when he felt a hand brush lightly against his own. Jeremy tensed a little, but didn’t turn his head to face Michael. He couldn’t bare to. Michael got a little bolder, pressing his hand against Jeremy’s longer. Jeremy took a deep, stuttering breath. This was dangerous. Very, very dangerous.

Still, Jeremy grabbed Michael’s hand and squeezed. Michael squeezed back, so tight it was almost painful. He sniffed and Jeremy had the horrible realization that Michael was crying, or at least close.

“Walk, Nate!” Jeremy called, wincing a little at how thick his voice sounded. Nate, who had been running back to the snack tables, slowed to a fast walk. The music coming from Jeremy’s desk computer was loud and grating.

“Jingle bells, jingle bells…”

“I’m sorry,” Michael said lowly. Jeremy could barely hear him. “I shouldn’t have come, I know. Even Logan said this morning that I shouldn’t come. But—” His voice cracked.

“It’s not your fault,” Jeremy said, still facing away.

“It’s not yours either.”

“It’s my job that’s in the way.”

“That’s a dumb argument and you know it, Jeremy.” Michael’s grip started loosening and Jeremy held on tighter, panic seizing his chest. “I think I need to leave. I can’t— be here. Not now, at least.”

It took all Jeremy could to choke out, “I understand.” It felt like his fingers were frozen in place as his painstakingly released his grasp on Michael’s hand. He felt cold as soon as Michael stepped away.

He watched shamelessly as Michael found Logan and whispered in his ear. Logan pouted, but nodding. Michael left without another word.

Logan looked over at Jeremy, and perhaps for the first time saw how much this was truly affecting him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FOUR DAYS UNTIL I SEE BE MORE CHILL CAN YOU HEAR ME SCREAMING???


	22. Chapter 22

Luckily, since it was the start of winter break, Rich and Brooke weren’t suspicious when Jeremy ducked out of the school as quickly as possible. No one wanted to spend more time in the school than absolutely necessary. Brooke’s room was already closed and dark when Jeremy stepped out of his own. Rich had already sent his “Have a good break!” text, though it had included an ominous line about dragging Jeremy out at least three times in the next two weeks. “Or else”, whatever that meant.

But the school was already almost empty when Jeremy rushed out of the doors, so there were no side-eyes or questioning glances for once. Jeremy was just so, so ready for a break. Even if said break meant he would spend the next two weeks alone in his apartment. Maybe the time away from social interaction would be what he needed to finally get back in the groove of things.

He was almost home when his phone buzzed. He glanced down to see his dad’s name on the screen. The two of them had only spoken once since Jeremy and Michael had broken up. They’d only been on the phone for two minutes when Dad had asked how Michael was and Jeremy had, in a pain-filled panic, hung up immediately. Dad had stuck to texts after that, though Jeremy had, clearly, become more and more unreliable with texting back.

Jeremy contemplated picking up the phone for so long that it finally went to voicemail. He pulled into his parking spot and grabbed his things. His messenger bag felt oddly light; he’d worked hard so he had no papers to grade over break. It almost felt like there was nothing hanging from his shoulder at all.

His phone buzzed once. Jeremy frowned when he saw the voicemail notification. Since when did his dad leave voicemails? He couldn’t think of a single time before. Reluctantly, he opened the voicemail and held the phone up to his ear.

“Hey, Jeremy, it’s your dad. Well, I guess you knew that. Still, I just thought I’d check in-- I’m getting worried about you, okay. Call me back. Bye.”

Jeremy deleted the voicemail. He did not call his dad back.

The start of Jeremy’s winter break was a little… sad, to be quite honest. He ordered himself a large pizza and somehow scarfed the entire thing down without even realizing it. He only realized that he’d finished it off when he went for another slice and found only cardboard at his fingertips. He watched reruns of The Big Bang Theory, even though he hated that show with a burning passion. He laid on his couch with absolutely nothing to do and no one to talk to.

Huh. Felt like high school all over again.

He nodded off around nine, painfully early and his neck crooked in an uncomfortable position. He shifted in his sleep, knocking his phone to the carpeted floor. He slept like that for three hours, until the incessant, muted buzzing of his phone against the carpet roused him.

Sleepily, Jeremy fell to the floor as he searched for his phone. It was almost unnecessary, as he probably wouldn’t respond to whoever it was, anyway. But there was a small part of his brain that equated late-night phone calls with emergencies, so he fumbled under the couch until he pulled his buzzing phone out.

To his surprise, it wasn’t a phone call that had woken him. It was a very long string of text messages. He almost thought he was hallucinating when he saw who they were all from.

**Michael** : jerrrmmmy

**Michael** : jereeemme

**Michael** : u dnt answer me anmyore

**Michael** : kjhm shd skis

**Michael** : sry

**Michael** : idk whatsh m wrong

**Michael** : mss u

**Michael** : lots

**Michael** : asjkfds wnaa kiss ur fache

That was the most recent of the texts. Jeremy stared down at his phone, truly not believing what he was seeing. Michael was drunk-texting him. This… could not be happening. How was this happening?

**Michael** : i nevefgk got ti tell u thsat i lvdeyuo

Jeremy felt like he was going to throw up. The room seemed to spin; the only stationary object was the phone in his hands, the screen lit up bright in his face. His heart pounded almost painfully in his chest and he suddenly felt like he couldn’t breathe.

With shaky fingers, he typed slowly.

**Me** : michael, r u ok?

He felt stupid as soon as he hit send. Michael obviously wasn’t okay.

**Michael** : .,njhxsl,.

**Michael** : ur sppsoded ti br alseeps

**Me** : i was

**Michael** : srryu

**Me** : don’t be.

**Me** : i miss u too

Now fully awake, Jeremy waited for the next text to come. It felt kind of nice to be (sort of) talking to Michael again. It hurt like hell, sure, but he was happier.

Michael did not text back.

—

The winter break passed by quietly. Mutely. Jeremy went out with Rich once, which was actually kind of nice. It was weird going to long without seeing either Rich or Brooke. Jeremy found himself disappointed that Brooke and Chloe went to visit Chloe’s family for the holidays. He missed her.

He also missed his students. It was almost surprising how much he missed his students. Even Kyle and Jordan, who have him nothing but trouble. He found himself counting down the days until he went back to work.

Jeremy missed Logan, too, though he missed Logan a little more than the other kids. He tried not to think about it. He also resolutely did not think about Michael.

Michael hadn’t texted him in the past two weeks. Somehow, this silence hurt even worse. Jeremy felt like utter garbage, knowing he’d hurt Michael so badly. That Michael missed him, too. That Michael maybe lov-- He stopped himself from thinking it. He really could not take that right now.

Finally, though, it was Monday. It was a crisp January morning, Jeremy was still nursing a hangover from New Year’s Eve, and it was the first day back at school. Jeremy felt ready. It made him think about how very not ready he’d felt five months ago when the school year had started. It was such a stark contrast to how he felt now. He felt almost ansty to get back in the classroom, back to that norm.

To his surprise, Stacy and Logan were already outside his door when he arrived. Logan moved as soon as he saw Jeremy, wrapping his arms around Jeremy’s waist tightly. Jeremy blinked in surprise, but hugged him back. Logan’s glasses dug into his stomach a little, but he didn’t care.

“He wanted to get here as early as possible,” Stacy explained, smiling a little at the sight in front of her. “He wouldn’t wait.”

“Well I’m glad you’re ready for school,” Jeremy said lightly, rubbing the top of Logan’s head. Logan mumbled something against Jeremy’s shirt. “What was that?”

“I didn’t miss school,” Logan said, turning his head so he could be heard. “I missed you.”

Jeremy struggled to speak. “I missed you too, bud.”

It was quiet for a moment and then Stacy cleared her throat.

“If you don’t mind Logan hanging out before school starts, I’ll head home,” she said kindly. Jeremy smiled and nodded. She said goodbye and walked off, her shoes slapping loudly against the linoleum.

“Okay, you ready to go inside?” Jeremy asked, looking down at Logan. Logan looked up at him, still holding tight, and nodded. He didn’t make to move, though. “You gotta let go, bud.”

Logan made a huge show of unwrapping his arms from Jeremy’s middle, but then linked his arm around Jeremy’s and pulled him towards the door. Jeremy smiled and let him drag him around.

Logan was still a little lowkey all day, but he was much warmer than he’d been to Jeremy before break. It put Jeremy in such a good mood, which was a lovely change of pace. The kids were a little distracted, but that was to be expected as they were coming back from a long break.

He didn’t realize that he’d been hoping to see Michael until he deflated in quiet disappointment when Christine Canigula walked through the door. Logan seemed to deflate alongside him.

Logan grumbled something to himself that Jeremy didn’t quite catch, but it didn’t sound nice. He shot Logan a warning look, but Logan just rolled his eyes. Jeremy shook his head in amusement and went around the room, doing his job to make sure the kids were going home with the right people.

He beamed when Logan went out of his way to hug him tight before leaving.

“You’re gonna be here tomorrow, right?” Logan asked solemnly. Jeremey’s eyebrows knitted together.

“Of course I am,” he said softly. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You missed when things… went bad,” Logan said, struggling for his words. Jeremy had to nod. Logan wasn’t wrong. “Things are still bad.”

“They’re gonna get better,” Jeremy promised, “somehow. I’ll be here tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay,” Logan mumbled, squeezing tighter.

“Logan?” Christine said carefully. She was watching the exchange, a slightly concerned look on her face. “Are you ready to go?”

Logan nodded and pulled away. He waved again to Jeremy as he grabbed Christine’s hand and walked out the door.

Jeremy sunk into his chair when the last child finally left. He frowned. Obviously, he’d known that Logan knew that he and Michael had broken up and had been upset about it, but the fact that Logan was so attuned to the fact that Jeremy and Michael were upset and that meant “things were bad”… It worried Jeremy.

He chewed on his lip. Was Michael really having such a hard time? Still?

Jeremy pulled out his phone, twisting it in his hands. The room felt quiet, empty around him. Hesitantly, he pulled up his message log with Michael. It sent a pang through his heart to see the conversation again and how Michael hadn’t responded. Had Jeremy’s last text hurt him badly? Or had he just come to his senses when Jeremy had replied?

He couldn’t help it. Though he’d promised himself otherwise, he texted Michael.

**Me** : hi

**Me** : i kno you probably don’t want to hear from me

**Me** : so sorry

**Me** : but i’m worried about you

**Me** : pls just let me know you’re okay

By the time Jeremy went home, he felt worse than ever. He guessed now he knew how his friends had felt when he wouldn’t respond to their texts. He had half a mind to drive past the Mell house— just to check— but he resisted. That would cross over into creepy territory. He went home, checking his phone for messages at every single red light. 

His stomach sunk every time there was no new messages.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS IS SHORT AND I'M SORRY BUT WE'RE SO. FUCKING. CLOSE. TO THE END OKAYY
> 
> ALSO IN CASE ANYONE CARES BE MORE CHILL NYC WAS FUCKING AMAZING AND I'M STILL DEAD OVER IT


	23. Chapter 23

Friday afternoon was surprisingly hard. Logan clung to Jeremy tightly and refused to let go. No amount of coaxing on Jake’s part was getting Logan to release Jeremy. It broke Jeremy’s heart. He didn’t know how to explain to Logan that it was going to be okay, that he would see Jeremy on Monday, just like always.

“You want to go get ice cream?” Jake tried, tugging lightly on the crook of Logan’s elbow. Logan shook his head.

“Come on, buddy,” Jeremy said softly. “You love ice cream.”

“It’s January,” Logan mumbled. Jeremy and Jake shared a look, both looking like they were about to laugh.

“That’s never stopped you before,” Jake said, grinning.

“Monday will come before you even know it,” Jeremy promised. “But you gotta go home.” Logan looked up at him with watery eyes. Jeremy tried to look sympathetic, but stern. Finally, Logan stepped back and looked up at Jake.

“Ice cream?” He asked, holding out a hand. Jake smiled and nodded.

“With extra sprinkles,” he promised. Logan gave a small smile. He made a big show of waving to Jeremy until he couldn’t see the classroom anymore, which was heartwarming but a little over the top.

Jeremy felt like collapsing when they were finally out of his line of sight. His heart couldn’t take this anymore. He rubbed his eyes hard, sighing. He only dropped his hands when his phone buzzed. He picked it up to see a text from his dad.

**Dad** : What’s your address again?

Jeremy furrowed his eyebrows, but texted him the address. Was his dad mailing him a package or something? He’d never done it before. But— Jeremy’s birthday had just passed. Maybe he was sending a present. He was never great at remembering birthdays until they had passed by. Jeremy hadn’t gotten a single birthday present on his birthday since his mom left.

**Dad** : And what time do you usually get home from work?

**Me** : i’m on my way back now. y?

Dad didn’t respond. Jeremy groaned. God, if he was sending a singing bear or something as a birthday present, Jeremy would just die. Or slam the door in the bear’s face. That would work, too. He dropped his phone into his messenger bag and slung it over his shoulder.

Brooke had her date night with Chloe tonight, and Rich claimed he was swamped with grading already, so there would be no hanging out at the bar or something tonight. It sucked; Jeremy really could have used the distraction. Idly, he contemplated that he should try to make a few more friends. Back up friends, so to speak.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary when Jeremy pulled into his apartment complex’s parking lot. But then, if his dad had just sent the present (whatever it may be), there was no way it would have shown up already. He decided to just not think about it (Dad wasn’t great at birthday presents, anyway) until it showed up. He let himself inside the building and walked up the stairs to his second-floor apartment.

He stopped in his tracks when he saw his dad leaning against his front door, a cracked mass market paperback in his hand. He didn’t notice Jeremy right away, too engrossed his his spy novel.

“Dad?” Jeremy choked. Dad finally looked up, eyebrows raised.

“Hey, Jeremy,” he said baldly. “You took your time.” 

“Um,” Jeremy said, “I wasn’t expecting you to be on my doorstep when I got home.”

He dug his keys out of his bag and unlocked the front door, letting Dad into the apartment. Dad chuckled a bit when he saw the living room. It was a mess. Jeremy hadn’t gotten around to cleaning it over the break at all.

“I don’t know what I expected, son, but this sure is a bachelor pad,” Dad said. Jeremy shrugged. He didn’t really have anything to say to that.

“So,” Jeremy said as he dropped his bag onto the coffee table. “What are you doing here, Dad?”

Dad gave him a long, appraising look. “You’ve been acting off for weeks now. Not answering texts or calls, and even when you do answer you just don’t sound right. I’m— I’m worried about you, Jeremy. I figured it would be better to try to help in person.”

“I’m fine,” Jeremy said automatically. Dad gave him a disbelieving look. “Okay, things haven’t been great. But it’s not something you needed to fly all the way out here for.”

“I think it is. I’m getting to the bottom of this,” Dad stated. He dropped his suitcase next to the couch before pulling Jeremy into an awkward, gruff hug. “I’m still your dad, kid. Doesn’t matter how far away you are.”

Tears pricked at Jeremy’s eyes. He buried his head into his father’s shoulder to keep from crying. He’d felt so alone. So, so alone. Yeah, he had Rich and he had Brooke, and they had been better friends than he’d ever deserved, but there was something about having your parent there when you needed them. Jeremy had never thought his dad would go so far for him. Guess he’d underestimated his dad’s love.

Dad guided him so that they were both sitting on the couch, but his arm was still around Jeremy. It was kind of odd, as they’d never bee very touchy-feely with each other before, but it actually felt nice. Jeremy really needed someone to hold him right then. There was something so comforting about pouring your feelings out and having someone else just be there. Plus, he didn’t feel so guilty airing his issues to his dad than he did to his friends.

Between soft sobs, Jeremy told his dad how he and Michael had broken up even though they hadn’t wanted to.

“That doesn’t make much sense,” Dad said, not unkindly. Jeremy tightened his grip on his dad’s arm.

Without even making a conscious decision, Jeremy spilled absolutely everything. Everything about being Logan’s teacher, the broken rules… Everything. Well, maybe he spared a _few_ of the details, but basically everything. A lot more than he’d told anyone but Brooke or Rich. He spoke for what felt like hours, but was really only about twenty minutes. Dad stayed completely silent, taking in all the information. Jeremy supposed it was a lot to process all at once.

They were quiet for a long time after Jeremy stopped talking. Jeremy slowly calmed down until he wasn’t crying anymore. Almost reluctantly, he pushed himself up until he was sitting. He turned so he faced his father, folding his legs under him. Anxiety swirled inside him. He was suddenly hit with the fear that his dad would side with Mr. Anderson. That he would lecture Jeremy and say he deserved all of this shit. 

Jeremy didn’t know what he would do if his dad felt that way. Spiral even further? Probably. 

“Dad?” Jeremy said cautiously when Dad still didn’t say anything.

“That’s— you’ve been keeping a lot to yourself,” Dad said reproachfully. Jeremy shrank a little, his gaze dropping to his hands. 

“Sorry,” he muttered, picking at a hangnail.

Dad sighed. “If I’d known, I would have thought up some advice, you know. Good shit. Words of wisdom and all that. Instead…”

Jeremy looked up, mostly through his eyelashes. “Instead?” 

“How about we go to a game?” Dad said abruptly, standing. He looked tense, awkward, like Jeremy had always known him to be. The familiarity was kind of nice, but the thought of going to some sort of sports game made Jeremy grimace. He was definitely not a sports fan. 

“It’s January, Dad,” Jeremy pointed out (Dad preferred baseball, and it was definitely not baseball season). “And we’re nowhere near any football stadiums.” The closest was in New York, which was at least two hours away.

“There’s got to be a game somewhere,” Dad insisted.

—

They ended up at a basketball game for the local high school. Jeremy pretended to be an alum so it wasn’t weird for two grown men to show up to some random high school to watch a game. Dad bought Jeremy a hot dog and a Coke (Jeremy’s eternal favorite meal) and bought himself a soft pretzel and a root beer. They sat in the sparsely filled bleachers and watched a rather sad game of basketball. It was the freshman team, and they clearly did not have much talent.

Jeremy was itching to say something ( _anything_ ), but he just shoved the hot dog into his mouth. Dad probably thought he’d been so stupid to date Michael in the first place but was too awkward to say it. That’s what this was— a distraction.

Dad cheered feebly when one of the teams finally made a basket, only to get a dirty look from a mom nearby. He’d been cheering for the visiting team. Dad reddened, much like Jeremy tended to when he got embarrassed, and lowered his hands.

Jeremy snorted. Sometimes it was painful to admit it, but they were exactly the same.

Jeremy quickly became bored out of his mind (as he always did when sports were involved), but surprisingly enough, Dad seemed bored as well. It was a testament to how poor the teams were, honestly.

“You love him, right?” Dad said suddenly, right after the referee blew the whistle.

“What?” Jeremy asked, startled.

“Michael.”

“I mean,” Jeremy stammered, “yes? It really hasn’t been super long but— yeah. I do. And I love his son, too. Logan is such a great kid.”

“And they love you.” This wasn’t a question. Jeremy nodded anyway. Dad sighed. “It’s a shitty situation, Jer. But, if it’s affecting you this much, and you love each other as much as I think you do, then you have to do something.”

Jeremy was speechless for a moment. “But if I do something, I’m going to get fired. For real, end of story.”

“Would it be the end, though?” Dad asked cryptically. “Or the beginning?”

Jeremy took a deep sip of his Coke, mulling over Dad’s words. His heart was pounding as he thought— no, contemplated— about doing what he said. Doing _something_. Anything.

“You can’t stay miserable forever, Jeremy,” Dad said. “And sure, if you wait long enough, you both will eventually move on. But I don’t think that’s what you really want, is it?”

“No,” Jeremy murmured. Dad made it seem so simple. Jeremy immediately fished his phone out of his pocket. He needed to talk to Michael. Now. Giving his dad a fleeting look, he ran out of the high school gym and into the hallway, where it was much quieter. 

He called Michael, bouncing a little as it rang. His stomach dropped when it went to voicemail after two rings.

**Me** : michael

**Me** : micah

**Me** : pls i really need to talk to u

No answer. Jeremy leaned against the wall and slid until he was sitting, his legs pulled up against his chest. He stayed like that for the rest of the game. He only moved when his dad came through the doors and spotted him.

Jeremy just shook his head. He pushed himself up to walk out.

“So, who won?” he asked as they climbed into the car.

“Home team. The gators, I think?” Dad said. “Jeremy—”

“I might have lost my shot, Dad,” Jeremy said thickly. He clutched his phone tightly in his hand, silently willing it to ring. A text, a call, anything.

“No, I really don’t think you have.” Ha. What did he know? “You’ll just have to fight for it, is all. You’ve always been a fighter, Jeremy.”

“I was literally bullied for six years straight. I don’t have a fighting bone in my body.”

Dad made a point of rolling his eyes so Jeremy could see. “I don’t mean physical fighting. You suck at that. I _meant_ emotional fighting. You’re better at that than I am. At least you can keep your head through the bad times. And you can fight your way out of them.”

A silence fell over the car. Jeremy chewed in his lips, trying to decide how he could do this. How he could fight for Michael.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WE'RE SOOOO CLOSE I CAN TASTE IT
> 
> THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH FOR STICKING WITH THIS!!! THE END IS IN SIGHT!


	24. Chapter 24

Jeremy’s dad spent the whole weekend there. He was surprisingly helpful; he was great for troubleshooting plans with Jeremy. They tried to find a way for Jeremy to be able to keep his job but also be with Michael, but deep down they both knew it wasn’t going to work out. And weirdly, after talking with his dad all weekend, he really was okay with that. He wanted Michael.

But Michael had never responded, no matter what. Jeremy didn’t want to just blurt everything out over text, but he was getting to the point where he was going to just do it. He was getting that desperate.

Dad was only staying for the weekend, which was a startlingly short visit considering how far apart they lived.

“I got work,” was all he said when Jeremy pointed that out. 

Jeremy gave him a look. “That’s an expensive, boring weekend trip, then.”

Dad mirrored his look. “I got to spend time with you. Not very boring in my book.”

Jeremy shook his head. “Where has all this come from?” He asked, gesturing vaguely in Dad’s direction. Dad raised his eyebrows.

“What’s that mean?”

“I don’t know, you never used to say stuff like that,” Jeremy said a little awkwardly. 

“Guess I missed you.”

“Guess so.” Jeremy hesitated, then hugged his dad. “I missed you, too.”

“You could come visit on breaks,” Dad reminded him. Jeremy shrugged sheepishly.

“I’ll try,” he said. “Maybe over the summer or something.”

Dad’s flight was late Sunday evening, which meant Jeremy pretty much dropped him off at the airport and then went home and right to bed. He hadn’t graded anything all weekend, but he was too tired to care.

Monday came with a sort of peace to it. Jeremy had finally made a choice that made him happy. He knew what he wanted and he just had to try to get it. It put him in a nice mood.

He spent the morning trying to think of what he should do next. Should he just show up at Michael’s house? That could easily backfire, especially with Logan there. He could just tell Michael the truth over text, but that wasn’t romantic at all. 

Jeremy ended up putting on another Schoolhouse Rock video in the morning so he could catch up on grading papers, but he had trouble focusing. He picked up his phone impulsively and texted Michael (yet again).

**Me** : hey

**Me** : i need to talk to you

**Me** : it’s important

Jeremy bit his lip. Michael’s read receipts were off, but he was always quick to check his phone. Still, there was no reply. The room around him was dark as an awful idea sprung into his mind. It was unprofessional (but then again, so was Jeremy trying to date his student’s parent) and it probably made him a bad person. His fingers typed before he could even think to stop himself.

**Me** : i need to talk to you about logan’s behavior in school. either today or tomorrow after school, whichever works better for you

Jeremy wished he could take the text back as soon as he sent it. He just lied about setting up a parent-teacher conference to get face time with Michael. God, he sucked. Five heinous minutes passed before Jeremy’s phone finally buzzed.

**Michael** : tomorrow works for me. i can be there by 4.

A grin stretched over Jeremy’s lips. Tomorrow was actually perfect. It gave him time to set something up. Michael deserved a grand gesture, and by god Jeremy was going to give him one.

—

It was the next day, and Jeremy was a fucking wreck. He was more nervous than he could have thought possible. This was it. This was _it_. He was putting everything on the line: his career, his heart, himself… He was just praying that this had a happy ending.

He’d come to work extra early to hide the roses in his closet without anyone seeing. Luckily, Michael wouldn’t be there until about half an hour after school got out, which would give him plenty of time to set up. He’d dressed up nicer than normal for work today, taking longer than usual to make sure his hair wasn’t a greasy mess.

The day seemed to drag on and on. Jeremy wanted nothing more than to put another video on, but he couldn’t do that two days in a row. That was just bad teaching. So he suffered through the morning, almost sighing with relief when he finally dropped the kids off at lunch.

He sat down in the teacher’s lounge, the first one to arrive. He popped his leftovers into the microwave and set it to two minutes.

“Look at you!” Brooke said as she walked in. “You’re looking extra nice today.”

Jeremy flushed. “Oh. Thanks.”

“What’s the occasion?” She asked, setting her Tupperware on the coffee table. Jeremy sat down next to her on the couch, shrugging.

“Just what I grabbed this morning, I don’t know,” he lied. Brooke raised an eyebrows but accepted the answer. 

“Well, you look good,” she said simply.

Rich said as much when he came in a few minutes later as well. Jeremy flushed again. Sure, he’d put more effort into his appearance for today, but he hadn’t thought it would be so obvious. He just hoped they didn’t ask too many questions. He didn’t want to have to explain his decision. They’d just try to talk him out of it. Brooke, especially.

Rich launched into this rant about a “fucking PTA mom, of course” who had emailed him fifteen times over the weekend about her son’s test grade.

“The kid doesn’t try! It’s not my fault that he failed his test, Patricia. I’m doing the fucking best I can,” Rich said, waving his fork around as he spoke. Brooke shook her head in amusement. 

“God, I hate those kind of parents! There’s this one dad— he’s Stacy’s dad— and every time Stacy doesn’t get one hundred percent on her spelling test, he blames me! As if I taught her how to write ‘wood’ wrong,” Brooke said, sounding a little bitter. Jeremy couldn’t help but grin at the two of them.

“You guys are great, you know that?” He said suddenly, looking from Rich to Brooke and back again. They both looked back, eyes a little wide. “I just— I’m glad we’re friends. Really glad.”

“You feeling okay, Jer?” Rich asked, half joking.

“I am,” Jeremy promised. “Uh, my dad was here this weekend and I don’t know. He made me think I should tell the people I care about that I care, you know? I just— I really hope we stay friends for a long time, ‘cause you both are the best friends I’ve ever had.”

Brooke had tears in her eyes. “You’re too sweet,” she said, kissing him on the cheek. Rich punched him lightly in the shoulder.

“Yeah, whatever,” he said, voice a little thick. 

They were silent for a little bit, before Rich cracked a joke and things lapsed back into a more normal feel.

The afternoon went by just as slowly as the morning had, but finally the clock declared it was time for the kids to go. Jake picked up Logan today, and again they had to practically peel Logan off of Jeremy so they could leave. Where before it had kind of broken Jeremy’s heart a bit, now it made him feel a little better. More hopeful for his future.

He practically rushed the last of the parents out the door with their children, shutting it quickly behind him. He glanced at the time. He only had about fifteen minutes until Michael would show up for their “parent-teacher conference”. He pulled out the roses and got to work.

—

Michael’s knock on the door was so light it could have been mistaken for footsteps if Jeremy hadn’t been waiting so anxiously. God, he hoped he hadn’t sweated through his shirt. This was supposed to be romantic, goddammit!

He hurried over to the door, paused to take a deep breath, and opened it.

Michael looked nervous, but (probably) not for the same reason Jeremy was. The sight of him practically stunned Jeremy. It really had been too long. He was wearing a white button up shirt with a red striped tie (he looked so good in red _oh god_ ). His hands were stuffed in his pockets.

“Hey,” Jeremy said breathlessly. Michael reluctantly met his eyes.

“Uh, hi,” he said uncertainly, having noticed Jeremy’s dressy/nervous appearance. “Um, why are the lights off?” He asked as Jeremy stepped aside to let him into the classroom.

The only light in the room was coming from the windows, which were covered in white blinds. There was still a fair amount of light, but it felt much more intimate. (Well, as intimate as a second grade classroom _could_ feel.)

“What—?” Michael’s confusion grew as he saw the rose petals scattered throughout the room. Jeremy had wanted to bring candles, too, but he was afraid the flames would somehow set off the fire alarm. “I thought we were here to talk about Logan?”

“Yeah,” Jeremy said, wringing his hands together. “Don’t be mad, but I kind of lied about that. I just needed to talk to you! And you haven’t been answering my calls or texts.”

“Jeremy— I don’t understand?” Michael said slowly. 

Slowly, cautiously, Jeremy took both of Michael’s hands into his own. “I love you.”

Michael seemed to freeze. Emotions flickered so fast across his face Jeremy could hardly keep up: confusion, joy, sorrow, love.

“I love you, Michael, and I want to be with you,” Jeremy went on after a moment. He squeezed Michael’s hands, trying to convey his feelings in any way possible.

“Your job—” Michael started, but Jeremy shook his head. 

“I don’t care. I really don’t,” Jeremy insisted when Michael opened his mouth to argue. “Even my dad agrees with me, which is so rare. But these past weeks have been hell, Micah. _Hell_. I’m miserable without you. I love you so much and— that’s what matters. So, if you feel the same way, I want to be with you. I don’t care if I have to find a different job. I don’t care if I have to go back to school to do something else! I don’t care what the future holds, so long as we’re together.”

Tears pooled behind Michael’s glasses. He clutched Jeremy’s hands tightly, as if Jeremy would disappear if he didn’t keep him in place.

“I missed you,” he choked out, leaning towards Jeremy. He released Jeremy’s hands to wrap his arms around Jeremy’s waist. Automatically, Jeremy wrapped his arms around Michael’s back and held him. They fit together perfectly. Michael’s ear rested right on Jeremy’s heart, and he could hear the steady _thump thump thump_. Jeremy’s choice was made, and he was happy with it. “I missed you so much.

“I missed you more,” Jeremy murmured into Michael’s hair. Michael let out a watery laugh.

“Not possible.”

“I beg to differ.” Michael smiled, raising his head to capture Jeremy’s lips in a deep kiss. Jeremy had never felt happier than he did right then, in Michael’s arms. They kissed fiercely, as if making up for lost time. Everything but Michael faded away into nothing. Nothing else mattered. The room could have caught fire from nonexistent candles and Jeremy wouldn’t have even noticed.

“I love you too,” Michael mumbled against Jeremy’s lips. “So, so much.” Jeremy grinned, pulling back and resting his forehead against Michael’s.

“Yeah?” Michael nodded, looking him deep in the eyes.

“What are you gonna do?” He didn’t have to elaborate.

“Well,” Jeremy said slowly, “I was hoping to celebrate with you so more. Maybe at my place?” Michael beamed at that, kissing Jeremy again. “And then tomorrow, I was going to go to Mr. Anderson. Better not to be blindsided again.”

“I hate that you’ll lose your job over me,” Michael said, looking down. Jeremy shook his head. 

“If I have you, I’ll be fine without it. I’m serious,” he added when Michael gave him a disbelieving look. “And it’s not losing, technically, if I’m making the choice myself. I love you, so the choice is easy.”

Michael pulled Jeremy into another kiss, and they stayed like that for a long time. Finally, Michael pulled back and brushed his fingertips on the rose petals adorning the desks near them.

“Roses? Really?” He asked teasingly. Jeremy rolled his eyes.

“Only the best for you,” he said, sounding incredibly cheesy. But he didn’t care. Tomorrow would be hard, but he’d do it. And he would be fine. Better than fine, actually. With Michael, he would be great.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAA


	25. Epilogue

TWO YEARS LATER

Logan was practically brimming with excitement. He was almost vibrating out of his seat, a smile so big on his lips that it could light up a room. Jeremy felt exactly the same way. The only reason he didn’t have his own dopey grin was because he was _trying_ to keep it a surprise.

Maybe it had been a mistake to let Logan in on the surprise. Sure, he was already nine-years-old (god, where had the time gone?), but he was no better at keeping secrets than before.

It was the day after Christmas. Logan had been buried in presents the day before. It was only Jeremy’s second time celebrating Christmas (though both Michael and Logan had celebrated Hanukkah with him as well), but today was a much bigger day. There was still a week left of winter break before Jeremy had to go back to work.

Jeremy and Michael had been together officially for almost two years now. And somehow, miraculously, Jeremy had not lost his job at the school. Well, it really wasn’t such a miracle. It was good friends and great parents.

It turned out that Brooke and Rich both thought Jeremy’s little speech about being grateful to be their friend set off some alarm bells. As soon as Jeremy had left the room, the two made eye contact. Without even speaking, they knew what was going on. 

The day after Michael and Jeremy got together once and for all was the strangest day Jeremy had ever had. He’d actually spent the night at Michael’s (thank god Logan had fallen asleep at Jake’s) and had spent the whole morning kissing Michael before dreadfully going to the school, ready to except his fate.

“I’ll go with you,” Michael had said for the third time that morning. He kissed Jeremy on the temple, then the nose, and then the lips. Jeremy’d wrinkled his nose in delight, but shook his head.

“You need to go to work. I’ll be okay,” he had promised. 

He’d gone in all alone, the feeling of dread settling in on the car ride there. He was set in his choice, but still. This was going to be an awful morning, he knew.

He’d gone in and been met with a surprising sight. Mr. Anderson was in deep conversation with both Rich and Brooke. There had been multiple envelopes scattered across his desk.

“Um, hi?” Jeremy had said awkwardly, fist raised to knock on the office door. “Mr. Anderson, I needed to speak with you.”

Mr. Anderson had raised his gaze from the letter he was reading.

Jeremy had gulped and practically sunk into the seat.

“Mr. Heere,” Mr. Anderson had said, sternly looking at Jeremy over the rim of his glasses. Jeremy’s eyes widened, but then Mr. Anderson smiled. “I’ve never seen such nice letters from parents before! Have you seen these?”

Through a rather confusing conversation, the entire truth came out. Brooke and Rich had rallied the parents of Jeremy’s students all last night into writing letters about how much they loved Jeremy as a teacher. They’d managed to get over half the class to write letters. So even when Jeremy confessed to getting back together with Michael, there was almost nothing Mr. Anderson could do. It was clear the parents would throw a collective fit if Jeremy left during the school year; they liked him too much.

Jeremy had been allowed to keep his job so long as he kept his “personal life personal, and are strictly professional at school. One complaint and my hands are tied, Mr. Heere, no matter what the parents think.”

Jeremy was still thanking Brooke and Rich every single day. They really were the best friends Jeremy had ever had.

Time seemed to fly by after Jeremy and Michael were together officially. No more hiding it (sure, he didn’t advertise it for the other parents at school, but it wasn’t such a secret anymore). The school year seemed to fly by, where before it had dragged on and on. They waited until after school let out for the summer to tell Logan, who was cautiously excited at first. Jeremy spent a lot of time with Logan and Michael over the summer, and by the end of it Logan was thoroughly pleased to have Jeremy around.

And now, here they were. The day after Christmas. It normally would be a day for children to spend buried in the toys they’d gotten the day before or outside playing in the freshly fallen snow until their noses were red and their hands numb, but Logan seemed to have forgotten all about Christmas break and its perks. Instead, he was clinging to Jeremy’s side, trying with visible effort not to spill the secret.

They still had hours left. Jeremy was actually getting a little nervous, which almost felt silly at this point.

Michael was in the kitchen, cooking breakfast food for lunch. Jeremy had very quickly that Michael was the kind of person to eat eggs, bacon, and pancakes at just about any time of the day. So though it was about two in the afternoon, the sizzling of bacon could be heard all throughout the house.

“How much longer?” Logan whispered loudly to Jeremy. They were both sitting on the floor, though Jeremy was the only one playing the video game Logan had gotten for Christmas. Logan’s controller was abandoned on the carpet in front of him and he was buried into Jeremy’s side. The distraction was a bust.

“We gotta wait until it gets dark, bud,” Jeremy whispered back, much quieter.

“Why?” Logan whined, forgetting to whisper at all. Jeremy shushed him quickly.

“What are you guys whispering about in there?” Michael called from the kitchen.

“Nothing!” The two of them chorused, sounding far too guilty for Jeremy’s liking. And apparently, for Michael’s as well. Michael poked his head into the living room, narrowing his eyes suspiciously when he saw the two of them. Logan was practically glued to Jeremy’s side.

“What are you two up to?” Michael asked, waving a spatula at them.

“Nothing,” Jeremy said quickly, smiling. “We’re just playing Zelda.” He waved his controller at the screen. Michael flicked his gaze to the screen and back to them. Logan looked like he was about to burst, so he buried his face into Jeremy’s side. “Logan’s just real excited. He loves this game.”

There was a pause. “You guys are weird.” Michael shook his head and went back to cooking.

“But you love us!” Jeremy called with a laugh.

“Unfortunately.” Logan popped up.

“Dad!” He complained. “That’s mean!”

“You know I love you, you weirdo.”

“Still.” Logan huffed. Jeremy ruffled his dark hair, making Logan complain even more. Michael started humming to himself as he cooked (something that sounded eerily similar to Whitney Houston).

“Are you gonna move in?” Logan asked, actually quiet this time. He looked up at Jeremy, his eyes big behind his lenses. “After?”

Though Jeremy spent more time at the Mell house than his own apartment, he didn’t officially live there. How apartment felt so empty compared to Michael’s house. Jeremy bit his lip.

“I hope so.” It was all he could say. Suddenly, he really hoped he hadn’t made a huge mistake by involving Logan so much. If this went poorly, Logan would be hurt because of Jeremy. Again.

Silently, Jeremy began to panic. He didn’t have much time, though, as Michael called them into the kitchen for “breakfast”. Jeremy had learned that the Mell family had a thing about eating together during the holidays. So the three of them sat around the kitchen table, which was full of pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, and biscuits with gravy. A true breakfast feast.

Logan loved bacon best, so Michael had already placed bacon on his own plate to ensure he would get some. Jeremy helped himself to some pancakes and eggs before drowning both in syrup.

Michael wrinkled his nose. “I still don’t get how you eat syrup on your eggs.”

“Ew,” Logan agreed faintly, bacon already in his mouth.

“It’s good!” Jeremy defended. “Besides, the syrup was gonna end up on the eggs anyway. Might as well do the job right.”

“You’re so weird,” Michael said affectionately, leaning to kiss Jeremy on the cheek.

“You’re weird,” Jeremy retorted weakly. His heart pounded in his chest. God, he loved Michael so, so much.

“That I am,” Michael said brightly before digging into his own food. Logan was beaming at the two of them and Jeremy silently raised his eyebrows at the kid. Logan quickly began eating his own food, possibly to keep his mouth shut about any surprises that were planned for the day.

Once the food was finished and leftovers packed away, Jeremy volunteered to do the dishes. It was only fair after Michael had done so much cooking, after all. Jeremy stood in front of the sink and turned on the water, letting it warm up before he began scrubbing.

Logan bounded back into the living room. Jeremy thought Michael would follow his son, so he was surprised when two arms wrapped around his waist. Michael pressed against Jeremy’s back, resting his chin on Jeremy’s shoulder.

“What are you doing?” Jeremy asked, picking up the sponge and covering it with soap. Michael gave a little shrug, awkward in his position.

“Being with you.” Jeremy smiled, leaning back a little.

“Well, I’m not going to complain.”

“Good,” Michael said, kissing Jeremy’s ear softly, “because you’re stuck with me.”

“I dunno if stuck is the right word,” Jeremy replied, mindlessly washing dishes, “but sure. We’re stuck together.” Jeremy could feel Michael’s smile against his skin. God, this had to be what heaven felt like. If heaven existed in any form, it would be Michael’s arms.

There was a small noise from the doorway, but Jeremy didn’t bother to look. Until—

“Is this what you’re gonna be like when you’re married?”

“What?” Michael asked, stepping away from Jeremy to look at Logan. Jeremy froze mid-scrub. This was not happening. Logan totally did not just blow everything. “Logan, what are you talking about?”

Jeremy finally forced himself to turn to see the scene behind him. Logan looked so guilty and upset with himself, it almost broke Jeremy’s heart.

“I— I didn’t mean— never mind!” Logan turned and bolted up to his bedroom.

“Logan!” Michael called. He looked over at Jeremy, confusion all over his face. Jeremy’s face must have told him all he needed to know, as the confusion melted away to understanding. Blindly, Jeremy turned off the water.

“I should go talk to him,” Jeremy said quietly, trying to keep his anxiety out of his voice. He slipped around Michael before he could say anything and hurried to Logan’s room. He could hear Logan’s sniffles through the door. He knocked gently.

“Logan? Buddy, let me in.”

“No! I messed it all up!” Logan said, his breaths getting louder. “I’m s-s-sorryyy.” Jeremy opened the door anyway. Logan was curled up on his bed, crying into his stuffed panda that Jeremy had bought him for his last birthday. Immediately, he scooped Logan into his arms and held him.

“You didn’t mess it all up,” he said. “You don’t have to be sorry.”

“But I did! I was s’posed to keep the secret,” Logan cried. Jeremy hugged him tighter. 

“It’s okay! It’s okay,” Jeremy said, rubbing Logan’s back. “You didn’t do it on purpose, right?” Logan nodded, still sniffling. “So, it’s okay. Accidents happen.”

Sure, Jeremy’d had a romantic plan set up for the evening to woo Michael yet again. It was going to be a simple, yet perfect proposal. God, Jeremy couldn’t even think about what Michael must have been thinking right then.

“I’m sorry,” Logan said again. It sounded like his tears were done.

“I forgive you,” Jeremy said, kissing the top of his head as he hugged Logan close.

“So, uh, do I get a ring?” The two of them looked up to see Michael leaning in the doorway, watching them. He had his own dopey grin on his face as he watched his two favorite people in the world.

“What?” Jeremy asked, caught off guard.

“I mean, I get a ring, right?” Michael wiggled his ring finger in the air. “If you like it, you gotta put a ring on it, Jer.” A grin slowly stretched over Jeremy’s lips.

“I have the ring in my car,” he said slowly. His eyes met Michael’s. “So, is that a yes?” 

“I don’t know,” Michael said, looking away playfully. “You never even asked.” Jeremy laughed, which made Logan laugh, which then made Michael break and laugh, too. “Yes, you idiot. Of course I’m saying yes.”

Logan slid from Jeremy’s lap and Jeremy stood, grabbing Michael and kissing him. Logan made a little “ew” from behind them, but the two of them didn’t care. They held onto each other for what felt like hours. Jeremy felt like he could burst from the joy of it all. They were getting married. They were _getting married_!

“I love you,” Jeremy mumbled against Michael’s lips.

“I love you more,” Michael replied, kissing the corner of Jeremy’s mouth. Jeremy shook his head, pulling back to look Michael right in the eyes.

“Not possible,” he said, before kissing him again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow. this is the longest fanfiction i have ever written, and i honestly can't believe i actually stuck with it and completed it. but here were are! 50k+ words, done. thank you to everyone who's stuck with this story even when i didn't update for weeks at a time. i'm so glad you guys have enjoyed it! your comments on this story have been some of my favorites, and i never would have finished it without them. thank you guys so much :')


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